- Also known as:
- Unknown
- Year:
- 2011
- Countries:
- Predominant Genre:
- Drama
- Director:
- Best Performances:
- Plot:
- Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren’t encouraged to be independent.
- Themes:
- Personal change
- Self-expression
- Compassion
- White supremacy
- Similar To (in Plot, Theme or Style):
- Unknown
- Review Format:
- DVD
Without a Substantive Culture, the Personal is always Political
Amusing take on passing-for-White in a story about a woman passing for a man in a White culture where women have fewer human rights than men. the problem of pretending to be someone you are not in order to become who you are is well-presented as we focus on the pretense that such an imposture entails means agreeing with an oppressive system in order to operate in any way successfully within its limitations. A freedom that is not really a freedom because she is trying to be something that she can never be, since the lie only works if you believe in it.
As today, when Whites are reminded of the Institutional Racism from which only they benefit, they deny that such pretense is required while demanding integration into a social system designed to demean non-Whites. This White-created paradox mirrors the central problem of the woman here: Integrating into a culture that requires her to renounce her gender and her humanity. This entails that she trust no-one - as, for example, Blacks distrust Whites - for fear of exposure; while embracing the benefits of the very Institutional Sexism her imposture rails against.
The schizophrenia that results is as inevitable here as it is with Blacks who pass for White: Self-renunciation; lack of personal identity, self-respect & happiness - all because others are unable to accept themselves.
What is missing here is any realization that such a culture requires that everyone to be acting, to give the impression that one agrees with the oppression in the hope of benefiting from it. A culture of forms, without substance, that tries to ensure that people feel substantial without any of the necessary effort required. And that there is no real opportunity in such a culture for a private, decent nor dignified life. Nor is there any dissection as to why Whites would create a culture that is so disrespectful to woman.
Technically-accomplished, the acting is superb - especially Janet McTEER. The actresses fully understand the ironic nature of the drama in the acting-out of people who spend their lives acting in a desperate attempt to find themselves. a peculiarity of cultures that claim to be loving (eg, the Christian one shown here) that also ask the ingenuous question as to why people choose to live false lives as if the answer were not obvious and the questioner deaf, dumb & blind.
Yet, in spite of everything, this is a very human drama that makes you glad to have been born Homo sapiens rather than dolphin or tiger.
No comments:
Post a Comment