REVIEWS

---

“Y si Adelita”, a short film on women directed by Luiz James concerning the tortures women have gone through from the past decades. The story is during the time of the Mexican Revolution, an era when women had to hide from federals and combatants from every category to save themselves from being sexually assaulted or physically tortured and murdered and even sold at a price that is not even a penny’s worth.

The film begins with a low camera angle supposedly hidden underneath a bed, and only the legs of the characters are visible. Suddenly we see a woman’s fearful breathing noises, and a person entering the room visible in the frame. The woman is being forced and in a minute it is clear what is going on. She is being sexually assaulted by a man or two, and then left on the floor like a ragdoll. After a while, it is realized that the place where the camera was placed was actually the perspective of a little girl who comes into the scene when the woman calls upon her, telling her not to fall in the hands of those men. She shows a sharp weapon and hands it to her mother, confirming the same to her. The man, after a while comes back again and starts assaulting the woman again, at this point she takes the weapon and hits him in the chest in one straight stab, sticking the big weapon in his heart , leading to his death. The general has been killed, while the woman is escorted away by the other men. We see the woman lying on the floor, near her daughter who seems to wake up and start walking away from the place into a field.

The movie is shot in a monochromatic tone, setting a dark and empathetic theme to the film. The girl is seen to have the same weapon in her hand which she uses to cut off a dog’s leash, setting him free. A message indirectly to the viewers, not to trap or ensnare any women or human in their control and stop such tortures on them for life. A small but decent film showing us how the women of our society have been tortured and in some places this still continues even in this modern era. A clear eye opener to a large audience.

Gaurav Dutta is a B.com graduate from Kolkata, schooling from St. josephs college having a passion for writing since childhood and a love for coding and gaming at the same time!