“Paulina” is the best reflect of strength

By GTVW Staff

Photos by: Courtesy

From director Santiago Mitre, Paulina is a complex exploration of the ethics of political action and a provocative character study of a social justice activist – and her unsettling choices in the face of violence and social discrimination. Set in a racially and politically marginalized community in Argentina’s Northeast, the film tackles the moral ambiguities of those who seek to aid and ally themselves with the disadvantaged from their positions of privilege.When Paulina (Dolores Fonzi, in a searing performance) leaves a promising legal career in the shadow of her politically-powerful father to work as a school-teacher in a rural village, on the border with Paraguay and Brazil. Paulina speaks no Guaraní and her teenage students artfully parry her attempts to lift them into political consciousness.

These uneasy encounters, and subtly observed civics lessons, echo disturbingly in the aftermath of a violent sexual assault by a group of young men. Paulina’s decisions in its wake, portrayed without judgment by Fonzi, mercilessly test her relationships and core beliefs. During 103 min, this drama in Spanish with English subtitles reflects the lack of justice system where Paulina says “She doesn’t want truth, just the guilty.” Definitely, women lose sanity, strength but never their political idealism. Abortion and all kinds of violence against women are very well reflected here. It’s an intelligent film but cruel at the same time for being part of nature of bad human beings.