r e v i e w
Why is it that we don’t seek out sad? It’s a fact of life, after all, and denying reality is a recipe for disaster. Is it because life is hard enough on its own? Because we know sad will always be there, whether we look for it or not?
Whatever the reason, we treat sad movies the same way. When was the last time someone recommended to you—truly, deeply recommended to you—a sad movie? We just don’t do it. But happy needs sad. Loss helps us recognize what we appreciate; helps us know what to look for, or remember. Sad movies do the same. Their brutal truths can be uncomfortable, but they open our eyes to what is—and therefore what can be. Think about Schindler’s List. Or Requiem for a Dream. And add Beginning to the list.
It’s about Yana, mostly. She’s having a hard time raising her son in a healthy environment. The community attacks her family for its religion. But however unfair and dangerous this is for them, this is not our brutal truth. The brutal truth is that here, men treat women like tools.
Take Yana. She does the work around here: teaching the neighborhood kids about faith; caring for the house and her son, while her husband goes out on business for extended periods. And yet, he expects this and more from her, without giving anything in return. Whenever he is home and Yana doesn’t blindly support his insecurities, or have sex with him, he tosses her aside like the wrong screwdriver. No questions about her day. No words of support. And the cherry on top? He gets upset at his wife when she opens up about being raped.
This is just awful. How can we watch something like this? Well, you can if you care about people. If you care to learn more about what hurts them, and what helps them. If you’ve ever appreciated when someone sat down with you and listened, that’s how. And if you take the time to do so here, you’ll remember that there are still things of beauty in a sea of heartbreak.
Like Yana. Every day, she’s alone and uncomfortable. Dissociating. But every day, she fights through this to teach children; to care for the future. Floating alone, she tries to do right by others.
The longer we watch, the more we see how this takes a toll on her. The last scenes are some of the most shocking and elemental you’ll see in a long while.
Nobody likes sad. But sad teaches. Sad is universal. So take some time for yourself and watch this movie. Maybe it’ll help you remember that you’re not alone. Maybe it’ll help you remember what makes you happy, so you can go for it.
s t a n d o u t s — **spoiler alert**
(1) d a r k n e s s
Yana is in a bad place, both literally and figuratively. Though the moviemakers express this in several ways, a simple and striking one is the use of dark and light.
See below, how much of the frame—of our perception—is darkness? How light (how goodness? how Yana?) can sometimes feel small? Separate?
(2) t o g e t h e r b u t a p a r t
Not just Yana feels detached. Each of the characters is dealing with an issue, and the way they are framed hints that they are working through their issues alone.
Take a look below. Each of these people is having a conversation. But they are alone, surrounded only by emptiness. Sitting together, but apart. The moviemakers are talking to us here.
Even Yana’s attacker, a man who arguably has power, is shown apart. Left behind by his hunting party, he falters. Is he thinking about his atrocity? Being punished by a higher power?
(3) n o t h i n g n e s s
Just keeping the good times rolling here! After darkness and separation, we come to nothingness.
A recurring theme in the movie is Yana’s dissociating, discomfort, and depression. We know this in part because of repeated long takes of nothing, where we simply watch Yana live in silence. In these moments, we see Yana exhausted, defeated. Giving in to the abyss of sleep—almost as if she craves death.
When Yana visits her mother, she asks why they never talk about her father. Yet another man missing from the picture. Apparently, he used to call his daughter Sleeping Beauty. Remember that story? When a girl was cursed to die too soon, and then instead cursed to sleep, not living, but waiting around until a man kisses her, to live? The are layers of meaning here.
