Saturday, May 15

Boxing Helena (1993) - Movie Review

Rating- ****
(May Contain spoilers)

Boxing Helena is an incredibly thought provoking , unusually disturbing and brutally real movie which questions the premise of male-female relationships we normally see.There is one question about girls I was troubled abt ever since i was in teens and that's is why do gals marry wrong guys? those who they know arnt worthy of them and whom they don't really love? This is one rare movie which address that question.

The movie is story of a top surgeon is besotted with a beautiful woman who once ditched him. Unable to come to terms with life without her, he tries to convince her that they need each other. She has other ideas, but an horrific accident leaves her at his mercy. The plot is bizarre and perhaps sick at times but the movie shown as a twisted "Love Story" of these two; and is much more than what it seems on surface. Does he really love her despite knowing she hates him? And why do she loves back the man who destroyed her life?

What he calls Love for her in movie is obsession , Its like he worships her or adores her....but when he says he loves her its not she as person he loves or her feeling he cares abt ...he loves her so that she can love him back....her feelings are worth a trash for him. (deliberately so at times)...she is just a object of desire ....a trophy wife, not different from a sexy looking car or as movie shows like an art statue of Helena or beautiful parrot in cage ; not as a woman but as an object he wants to possess.

But strangely and this what makes movie diff is why does she love him back or tolerate him? What is that one thing which makes woman love back or stay with such men?In movie she realizes she needs him and its not need for a person but need to avoid loneliness ; she would be happy to replace him anytime...coz she doesn't love him ,'she just wants to be loved' The way she is or any gals for that matter only wants "to be loved" not "to love" !! Even if they are worthless they wont like to make themselves rise but rather choose a man who is so debased himself that he will like them as worthless person they are .....she says something imp in one scene that "u need me to call yourself a man" But how can a gal live with a "man" who is in any sense not really a man but just so coward who needs to exert pressure & force over gal to prove his manliness ....whose sense of moral and ethical existence is so rotten that he cant differentiate between a living statue and dead statue.?

But the woman in story is also debased morally , she maybe ugliest looking or bitchy or morally corrupt gal but she wants to hear she is beautiful the way she is, she knows its a lie...its a hollow premise..made not by choice but by lack of it !!! Still she prefers that illusion of being loved than reality.She is a prisoner but but by her own choice , she don't want to escape prison or want anyone to show us reality , she needs the prison more than prison needs her coz its only inside this prison of lies that she is something...something in eyes of someone ....what that something is and who that someone is doesn't matter to her ; all that matters is she is being needed , even if he is biggest moron of world...she needs it...to escape her own sense of insecurity.

The movie also raises interesting question about form of love. "Force a gal to corner until she accepts u" ..."cut her to pieces and make sure u are only around to take care of her and then she will accepts u" ..These are some quotes i heard in my life from other guys ; coz she has to go with someone. In movie and so around us what guys has for is ; not love not care not even need but a craving to be a man...a desperation and she knows it and so when she says 'i need you too' or 'i love you too' that's again is just a desperation ....from a soulless body and broken will....strangely he doesn't care it coz she is just a statue for him , to be worshiped but not loved and he is just a loyal dog for her whom she keeps so she doesn't have to face reality of her own loneliness.

The story is metaphor on reality of relationships ; isn't denying women of her choice is amputating her emotionally? forcing her to give up jobs , hobbies , passions and many thing , forced responsibility to bear child or quit job etc.etc. . This followed by telling how only he can care abt her and she has obligation to respond to that care.Its amputation of life's dream as we know it , amputation of character or personality ....where a guy can put her on pedestal and her be worthy of just his ego !

Its not for immature audience unfortunately. In fact the sexual scenes of movie doesn't really arousing but looks like a perversion at most times. Some may find it disgusting coz of emotional detachment and coldheartedness of characters who are doing it. In fact they all seems like masturbation as they are mostly one sided even though it involves two people. But then this was another question I never really got answer to. Suppose a gal marries a man who isnt whom she really wanted to marry but had to marry for some reasons (like family pressure,rejected by loved one etc .) but how to these woman compromise in bed? Do they dream & fantasize about the guy they loved or some movie stars they adore ? or its an one sided act of possession of body devoid of its soul & emotions? Isn't such a relationship in-bed a perversion of worst kind? A fetish where they cant differentiate between masturbation & sex. Sadly this is again a reality of world we live in. Woman of all sizes of DNA seems to be doing it.Why? Again a fear of being lonely perhaps? Or that perpetual sense of insecurity? Many years ago one of my female friends told me why do they choose a ugly guy over a nice guy, she said " coz all girls are inherently insecure ...at their core...no matter what they pretend they are insecure of girl next door ". A guy who cares offers sense of security over a nice guy.

The movie is amazing and really touch chord deep at viewers mind. Sometimes so painfully disturbing that many didn't liked movie. It has some of the best performance by Sheilyn Fenn. The movie has its flaws but I guess they are so coz she is didn't learn few things from her dad, of one of the legendary directors ...David Lynch. She lacks the coherence use of imagery and music like her dad. In-fact the juxtaposition of his childhood images doesn't give emotional view instead it feels like perversion at times. Another and rather biggest flaw is ending. The Lynchian movies is to be seen as surreal and metaphorical experience and so what director shows in end simply insults intelligence of viewer. We don't need abrupt flashback to explain things . In fact if Jennifer Lynch had learnt this one thing from her father and given a more bold ending the movie would have been received much differently. The ending ruined a good movie . But except last 10 mins this movie is masterpiece . With amazing acting by lead actress Fenn and actor Sands is also good though not as good her.
This is movie is a cult classic. One of very few movies able to disturb me and force to think about what is so so inherently wrong with our lives . Its a tragedy , so powerful so immense and so intricate in its delicate structure because its a reality of life we see and live. The subject of movie puts it to league classics of Stanley Kubrick likes Barry Lyndon or even Lolita . Its story of people who wants to be something but ends up as hollow shell , so they do what they can do best. Create a cage of themselves where they can feel they are something. It may not be story of all the women but its still story of majority of them. I can vouch for it :)

PS-
Trivia - The Misfits song "Helena" chronicles this story, and opens with the lyric "If I cut off your arms and cut off your legs, would you still love me anyway?" continuing in the same vein.
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