Column: 'Woman Rebel'
When former Drama Pathfinder scholar and Florida native Kiran Deol attended Harvard University to major in English, she knew she was in for an eye-opening experience. That experience, a documentary entitled Woman Rebel that debuted at the 2010 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and explores Kiran’s humbling exposure to the Maoist movement in Nepal, will be featured on HBO2 at 8:00 p.m as part of the HBO Documentary Films series. on the night of August 18th. For those who will tune in to watch, Kiran believes they will be in for quite the eye-opening experience themselves, especially when viewers quickly discover two out of five people serving in the rebel army amidst the Nepali jungles were women.
Spending a year in Nepal to capture the story of these “women rebels” on camera, Kiran returned back to the United States in 2009 to visually share her experience with the world. With the short documentary screening at events such as the 2010 Newport Beach Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, and Mendocino Film Festival, Kiran certainly hopes her audiences in the Western world will view what has become of the ancient kingdom firmly nestled near the base of The Himalayas.
A 45-minute documentary, Kiran follows the life of Silu, female leader of a guerrilla task force faction of the Unified Communist Part of Nepal (Maoist). By following Silu’s journey from the jungles to parliament, Kiran hopes Woman Rebel will provide her audience with insight about an issue few people beyond the foothills of The Himalayas are even aware about.
“I hope it’s moving. I hope you see a portrait of a woman who is fighting for her rights and it has some sort of emotional resonance and impact,” Kiran told this writer about her film, which has received positive reviews at many of the film festivals it has already screened at earlier this year. “Maybe you can learn something about a different part of the world and … focus on that narrative of agents of change instead of victims of circumstance.”
Those two phrases — “agents of change” and “victims of circumstance” — are quite actively used by Kiran, as the Harvard graduate-turned-filmmaker believes understanding the distinction between them are essential to breaking stereotypes while gaining a firmer understanding of what is going on in many corners of the world.
“We followed one woman from the jungles all the way to Parliament,” Kiran explained about the specific storyline of her short documentary. Even though she chronicled one woman’s tale from the battlefield to the seat of government, Kiran explained that her main character’s story is a microcosm of the bigger issues long affecting political, social, and economic upheaval in Nepal. In her interview with this writer, Kiran stated the alarming statistic that drew her to this issue to begin with.
“Basically 40 percent of the rebel army in Nepal are women. I heard that statistic in college — about 40 percent women — and I kind of had my jaw on the floor,” she passionately observed. “It’s not traditionally what you see from South Asia. Women are so typically represented in our media as docile. You see a lot of docility — that’s at least the stereotype (of South Asian women).”
While the number of women going toe-to-toe on the battlefield to tackle whomever stands in their way is rather high, Kiran explained it really is quite easy to understand why the Maoist movement in Nepal has turned a blind eye to gender distinction.
“The thing I will say about Maoists in Nepal — at least in 2008, when they joined the government — is they were part of a multi-party democratic system with other members,” Kiran frankly stated. “When you talk to the women specifically in that movement (and ask), ‘What do you want for the future?’ it’s like, ‘I want food and education and clothing for my kids.’”
Just like that, Kiran places a very real and tangible perspective on what at first appeared to be an elusive and ethereal subject matter. Even more, Kiran hopes Woman Rebel sheds light on another aspect of human nature: inner resolve.
“Regardless of where anyone is from, that impetus (to survive or fight for what one believes in) comes from within. There is initiative from within people,” she wisely and philosophically stated. “It’s about giving agency to people, not about trying to give handouts or whatever else.”
Accordingly, the question is begged — in providing a social commentary about the unique position of women actively participating in Nepal’s Maoist movement, how does one distinguish a leader from a follower, a righteous aggressor from juxtaposed victim, independent-minded freedom-fighter from pawn of terrorism?
Even more, how does Kiran address these rhetorical questions, if at all, in Woman Rebel? The only way to find out is by tuning in to HBO at 8:00 p.m. on August 18th, or be inquiring about future screenings on the film’s website.
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