I intended to write earlier about the Monday readings, but I ended up going this evening to see the FLEFF film "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days," and am completely absorbed in the movie even hours later, so I feel compelled to write about it.
Though it dealt with a completely different part of the world, Romania, I was struck by the similarities of life in an authoritarian state. The young woman, a friend who is assisting her roommate in obtaining an abortion, is so compelling; as a young woman at university coming from the countryside, she is faced with the complex issue of the abortion and how it affects her relationship with a boyfriend who hails from a more privileged household, and also how it affects her personally as she is brought into a web of deceit and danger. Willing to sacrifice her body to the man performing the abortion as a form of payment, she demonstrates the utmost loyalty and evidences the difficulty of either choice. Had she not given in to the double rape - he forced both she and the young woman receiving the abortion to pay in this way in addition to a large sum of money - she would have had to assist her friend through the pregnancy, most likely, and it would have posed an entirely different set of problems, not to mention the effort she put into helping collect money and make contacts and arrangements for the friend.
In terms of security issues, I was interested in the way that the state permeated all the decisions made, domestically, as we see in the dinner scence where she joins her boyfriend's family, to the weighing of decisions related to the abortion, and even to travelling. ID cards are required everywhere, and not having one could cause problems, or, as in the case of the young woman, can be a source of suspicion if the ID shows one to be a permanent resident and not a citizen.
In terms of the abortion itself, everything is taken care of under the table, and every action is illegal and could endanger their lives and put them behind bars for years. For instance, the young woman receiving the abortion admits that she is 4 months along, and the abortioner tells her that, if caught, she could be imprisoned for murder with a 5-10 year sentence.
Cigarettes are a continual theme in the film, and are notably more expensive than a hotel room for a night, because they are contraband and must be paid for on the black market since they are imported. To the smallest detail, the state is present.
Though almost no backstory exists within the film, in the review I read, it explains what I'd guessed: that it occurs in Soviet Romania, under Ceausescu, when state control was everywhere, and abortions were illegal, yet commonplace, crude, and dangerous. As a film, it was brilliant in the camera work and the direction, and the dialogue was minimal, which aided the storyline and the impact well. I went with two other young women, and each of us were so overwhelmed in the end that we remained, unmoved, in our seats for minutes after the film concluded.
It is the shared humanity and sympathy that also strike me about such a film. As women, each of us came away from the film wondering how we would respond in such a situation, and yet we knew that our location made the entire conversation different in a number of ways. However, considering the time, 4 months, it is one that could apply following the Supreme Court ruling last year on late-term abortions. Still, I found myself thinking of Korea, and the authoritarian government, and of China and how many young women there must face situations not so dissimilar, especially considering the disaffection for baby girls and the One Child policy. For both I wondered about the state control permeating the lives of the people, and how invasive that must be, but also I began to wonder about the point one may reach when that state control becomes so normalized, as we were speaking about on Monday. It seems probable that, after enough time living that way, one would be accustomed to the quotidien. Yet, also as we spoke of on Monday, I don't believe that accpetance or resignation or ingorance are excuses for those of us who are external to the situation and feel compassion towards those people, and I don't think it means that the people living in such a state are unaware of the inequities or the repressive nature of the government, merely that I would imagine a sort of hopelessness and defeatist attitude could potentially come from living like that for so long. Not to mention, such states have perfected the method of deterrence and setting examples of dissidents, which only furthers such helpless ennui.
In the end, the movie broke my heart, but it also left me with so much to contemplate, many of which I cannot even begin to formulate reactions to because I am still processing the movie. I am sorry that this was not focused on Korea or the documentary for tomorrow, but as I said, I felt compelled to share my thoughts.
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