Heroic Bodies may not be the most skillfully made of documentaries, but its stories and images show a formerly unseen side of women’s oppression in an impactful way, and also indicate how slowly but surely the balance is swinging in the other direction. The film provides an important contribution to the liberation and self-determination of women in Sudan – and around the world.
We are presented with a lot to see in Heroic Bodies. Many stories from many people about many different sides of women’s oppression in Sudan. There is a sort of division of chapters that with justifiable cynicism way shows the numerous ways that half the human species can be used, abused, deprived and ignored.
In this film, talking heads alternate with an abundance of never-before-seen archive material – photos and videos. It is a very conventional way of making a documentary and sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming: you don’t know who it is you are watching. But that does not detract from what is being told: how in Sudan the female body has been systematically mutilated and owned as property since the 16th century.
The film could easily portray the woman as a victim, and of course that’s a big part of this story too. For it tells how kings in ancient Sudan decided at some point to keep young, beautiful women as concubines. And how young girls must endure the torture of mandatory genital mutilation. How the disfigurement of the face contributed and contributes to the subjugation of disobedient women.
But the film also shows another side: it gives space to demonstrations of unprecedented courage, of women who, at the risk of their own bodies and lives, struggled to free themselves from the yoke of their male oppressor. It gives the floor to activists – mainly women and a single man who have devoted their lives to the struggle for equal rights and self-determination.
There is a lot of footage that sheds new light on the African country: there is footage of women in western clothes dancing freely in discotheques. One of the most impressive videos is that of a Sudanese wedding. A long, hypnotic sequence shows a bride being forced to dance for days. At first it still looks cheerful, a swaying bride, but then it turns out that tradition demands that she dance until she literally drops. The guests and her husband look at it impassively, as if it’s not a human being exhausted there, but a mere representative of a system. It is also striking how women continue to pass on these repressive traditions – they had to endure it, and so must their daughters.
Fortunately, there are also positive developments: the fight for equal rights is starting to bear fruit. Genital mutilation is no longer a matter of course everywhere. Early marriages and child brides also seem to be disappearing. The documentary is an important contribution to the liberation and self-determination of women in Sudan – and around the world.
Sudan/2022/95 min
Director: Sara Suliman
Production: Sara Suliman for Fenti Productions
Cinematography: Mohammed Adlan, Salah Abdelmahmoud Nasser, Faris Kermani, Khalid Awad, Ladan Anoushfar, Mansour Ahmed Omer, Muaz Osman, Mohamed Subahi
Editing: Emad Maher
