The Breadwinner; a review

Went to see Breadwinner with high hope, probably based on the names that associated with this work, but I never expected to like it this much. 

Sure it displayed a catastrophic situation and violent nature of humans, but it was empowering to see the courage of women and children that go on about their daily lives and fight against cruelty in their own ways. It was refreshing to see in a feature film female Middle-Eastern characters engaging in something other than  just sobbing. They are resourceful, kind and clever the exact traits that help them to survive and achieve in those situations.

Women in the #Breadwinner at the darkest moments of their dark fate keep their dream alive. For me the character of Delavar stood out, how she / he was trying towards achieving a dream was stimulating. Delavar even kept this optimism alive whilst listening to the story that Parvane was telling and kept inserting happy ideas in the story. 

As I was watching the #Breadwinner I remembered a conversation that I had with someone over 15 years ago. She was talking about the war and its affect on Europeans. I commented that it was not just European countries that paid a heavy price for the war. To which she responded, no it wasn't but unfortunately those people (I guess she meant people living in the Middle-East) are used to it. I had to deal with the nausea for the rest of that day and the bitter taste of her view for a long time afterwards. No one gets used to torture, even if it is inflicted on you in the name of usual life. Watching films like #Breadwinner would particularly be useful to people like my colleague.

We talked about the film afterwards and the saddest point that came out in our discussion as a group was that we could remember the horrifying moments of coming face to face with the guard that patrolled streets of Iran to scare women who dared not to hide themselves by covering every inch of their body. In an ill society where women are punished for drawing attention to themselves, it's hard to even breath. The aroused look of hatred on the Taliban members unfortunately was too familiar even to us who never lived under Taliban rules. 

With deepest respect to the brave women who protest against cruelty and fight for equal rights all over the world.

The Film Programme on BBC radio 4
We watched the film at Home (thanks for facilitating our group booking ticket). See further showing of the movie here.

 فیلم انیمیشن نان-آور یا پروانه داستان دختری است در افغانستان تحت سلطه ی طالبان. خانواده ای که زیر فشارهای قومی و مذهبی مردان افراطی به ورطه ی نابودی کشیده می شود و شجاعت دختری که در چنین شرایطی بقای خانواده اش بر عهده ی او گذاشته می شود. دختری که در محیطی زن ستیز برای زندگی خود و اطرافیانش دست به هر کار پر خطری می زند. چه غمناک بود صحبت بعد از تماشای فیلم. هر یک از ما خاطره ای داشتیم از تجربه ی تلخ و وحشتناک رودررو شدن با کسانی که با اسم دین به آزار و اذیت زنان پرداخته اند و می پردازند. برای همین نیمچه آزادی که داریم مدیون تک تک زنان آزاد اندیش و شجاعت آنان هستیم 

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