Movie Review (Samantaral)

Course: ANT101
Section: 04
Submitted by:
Name: Md. Mowdud Hasan Lalon
Id: 1632830030
Submitted To: TZF
Submitted date: 18.07.2022
Q1. Describe the major theme of the movie?

Samantaral, the latest film from Partho Chakraborty, may be the best movie
you've seen in a while, but there is no question that it represents an honest effort.
The word "parallel" in the movie's title relates to Sujan, the main character,
leading a disconnected life in his North Kolkata home despite though he is
surrounded by his own family. The narrative opens with the adolescent nephew
of Sujan, who was left an orphan at the age of two, returning to his mother's
house in Kolkata after completing his education in Darjeeling. He slowly starts to
find his position in the family, where numerous people share a home, while his
romance with a girl he met on social media grows.

The family patriarch is a retired teacher who, as a result of advancing age, is now
silent and helpless. The oldest brother is a modest yet well-intentioned
gentleman. The family is kept together by his wife, who shows the small kid
motherly affection. The youngest brother is a vindictive, obnoxious, ugly monster
who doesn't hesitate to threaten his family when they object to his inappropriate
behavior. His similarly miserable wife, who finds life in the home oppressive,
supports him admirably.

Sujan, the middle brother, is the last to be mentioned. His is a parallel universe—a
world in which he can erase anything that is repugnant by simply closing his eyes
and thinking those awful things never ever happened. He is soft-spoken, mild-
mannered, frequently breaks into poetry and songs, and plays the violin. Despite
the fact that most of them are kind to him, the family oddly keeps Sujan confined
to his room on the terrace.

The young lad, who naturally finds this to be quite distressing, sets out to unravel
the riddle of his favorite uncle's odd behavior and the even stranger response of
the rest of the family to his pranks with the aid of his girlfriend.

Uncle Sujan's intersex identity has finally come to light, despite the family's
longstanding desire to conceal it from the outer world. At the conclusion, Uncle
Sujan kills himself and offers his eyeballs to his violent younger brother.
Q2. Describe the purpose of the movie?

The aim of the film is to draw attention to gender-based inequality in society. The
film's primary goal is to depict the traditional, conservative Bengali society and
how it functions. The artist attempted to portray the family and social systems of
the Bengolis. In relation to the plot, consider family values, ethics, norms, beliefs,
and reality. In terms of tolerance, human rights, freedom of expression,
discrimination, and social operations, I believe the filmmaker is attempting to
convey a specific message to the society. Even said, it seems like the artist also
made an effort to highlight the many perspectives of various society members in
pertinent contexts, as well as the shifting attitudes of the educated youth
population toward societal issues. The goal is to show how society views gender
identification, especially for intersex people who often struggle to fit in with
society's norms. Even artists try to portray how individual persons of different
genders experience prejudice from society by highlighting how gender
identification has become an important aspect of society. The intention is to draw
attention to a social issue—gender racism and discrimination—that has to be
addressed.

Q3. Mention Interesting Examples of the breathtaking scenes and key Moments?

The film features several breath-taking scenes and pivotal moments. Beginning
with the first time the main character Sujan meets Arko, as Sujan tries to touch his
respectfully absent feet. He responds that he tried to appreciate a nice person as
his nephew had a pure soul rather than doing it because of their age difference.
Arko is puzzled and asks him why he was attempting to do so because he is
younger than him. Typically, the creators of these situations aim to convey the
idea that mere good deeds cannot serve as a barometer for earning respect from
others; rather, respect must be earned.

The second event involves Sujan dreaming about the collisions he had with his
younger sister and remembering how he had tried to stop her from riding
because he had foreseen the worst with his sisters. After expressing his concern,
Sujan describes how his younger brother has treated him poorly because of his
gender identity. With the help of these sciences, we may discover how gender
identity has become important in contemporary culture for expressing one's
innermost thoughts.

The third one is a humorous exchange between a granddad and two national
statistic collectors who arrive at the house and choose to knock on the door
rather than ring the doorbell. Grandfather takes a note and tries to educate
children that they should be concerned about their behavior because pounding
on someone's door rather than using the doorbell is impolite. In this scene, the
creators demonstrate how we frequently interact with others and attempt to
highlight how, in our culture, elders fill the position of the teacher when younger
people need to learn a lesson in proper behavior.

The fourth occurs when Sujan has a dream about her real identity and sees a girl
playing the violin. He tries to grab her but is restrained by an iron chain, giving the
impression that he is in jail. We can learn about the barriers our societies erect by
looking at those who are imprisoned for their questions.

Sujan takes his own life in the last scenes of the film after failing to obtain his
freedom from society. This is one of the most heartbreaking and moving passages
in the film, illustrating how cruel society is, how it has suppressed individual
choice, freedom of speech, and gender discrimination.

Q4. Mention the words/ language / scenes that were used /shown in the movie
in the relation to mention identity and gender?

There are several elements in the film, including words, language, and scenes,
that deal with gender and identity. For instance, in the climactic scenes, when
Arko noticed a woman's behind in his uncle's rooms and assumed that his uncle
had an affair with the unknown woman, he became aware of the relationship
between his uncle and the mysterious woman. He makes no effort to learn more
about who he or she is, does he? Creators of Hare wonderfully illustrated how
gender identity is differentiated in our society through symbols, clothing, and
other factors by highlighting the emblem of a woman whose traditional outfit can
be a clue.

Sujan attempted to locate objects in the body of Arkos girlfriend titly in other
situations. Sujan attempts to distinguish between males and women in these
scenes based on physical characteristics and elements. Basically, the authors
strive to illustrate how physical characteristics in contemporary society might
differentiate between gender identities. People in our society only take into
account the physical aspects of the body when determining a person's gender.
They don't take into account how a person feels or behaves within the body.

Another scene involved Sujan's younger brother abandoning him on the side of
the road to perish; miraculously, he lived. He then arrived at his house with a
small group of people, and all of a sudden, some unwelcome guests started
dancing, singing, and clapping with their hands at the house party. People
immediately recognized them as transgender due to their physical characteristics
and mannerisms.

The social gender identity in terms of behavioral pattern is highlighted by the

scene's creators. Third-gender people are frequently observed in contemporary
society engaging in cultural activities including dancing, singing, and
handclapping.

Q5. Describe how this movie portrayed discrimination and oppression of this
society:

This film beautifully depicted gender racism, discrimination, and oppression in

society while highlighting social issues, goals, and facts related to these issues.
This film demonstrates how important gender identification was in conforming to
normative society. The bigotry, lack of personal freedom, rejection of diverse
gender identities, and oppression of some groups of people in our communities
were all eloquently depicted in this film. This film demonstrates how families
acted defensively to embrace intersex individuals and how society has been
unkind in accepting third-gendered people in their daily lives. As an example, this
film shows how a father fails to accept his own third-gender son, how a brother
mistreats and corrects his third-gender sibling, how a nephew fails to properly
accept his third-gender uncle, and even how a family hides a third-gender
member from society. The movie also showed how various people struggle to
express their ideas, identities, relationships, freedom, and even means of
subsistence. The harsh truth in contemporary societies is that dominant
individuals are too snobbish, intolerant, and egotistical to embrace individuals
from all walks of life. The movies use actual people and information to show how
injustice and discrimination exist in society. Also demonstrate the effects that
such situations have on individuals.

Q6. Describe what this movie tells about gender, sexual orientation and identity
of individual?

In terms of gender, sexual orientation, and individual identities, this film

emphasizes a lot. We may demonstrate the importance of gender identification in
our prevailing societies by using the gender context. This film emphasizes how
members of a particular gender may dominate and set the rules for others. In our
society, only two categories of people are accepted. There are no openings for
persons of the third gender, demonstrating how our dominant civilization has
failed to integrate people of the third gender. The major causes of the
consequences on the lives of persons of various genders are ignorance,
irresponsibility, a lack of knowledge, a lack of empathy, and a lack of accepting
skills.

. The main subject of the film is sexual orientation. Although some people in our
society are aware of it, few people in our society give sexual orientation much
thought. It illustrates how difficult it is in our culture to deal with sexual
orientation. Gender diversity and sexual orientation are touchy and frequently
controversial topics in our society. On the one hand, the transgender women's
and intersex people's intersex subculture contributes much to contemporary
society while remaining socially taboo. People who identify as feminine and dress
in normally female clothing, but who were either born male or intersex, are said
to be intersex. How they have behaved in our society in terms of social barriers,
challenges, and a lack of freedom

This film emphasizes the value of an individual's identity in society. Individual

social identity is crucial for survival in society. People categorize people based on
their sex, wealth, and social standing. Personal identification affects one's
freedom of speech, lifestyle, and social standing. The primary means of
identifying people is through their sexual orientation.