Written by Harper Bigelow
This article contains spoilers.
Over the past week, I watched several films that are about sexual health and the injustice that comes along with the restriction of access to sexual health services. All of the films I watched were extremely influential, but the two that stuck out to me the most were Happening, directed by Audrey Diwan, and Midwives, directed by Snow Hnin El Hlaing. Both films carry a lot of weight to them; weight that is executed through the characters, like Anne and Nyo Nyo. The directors of both films were able to portray real-life struggles through these characters. Happening follows a young student named Anne in 1963 France. Anne quickly realizes she is pregnant, and although the word “abortion” is never said throughout the entirety of the film, Anne is adamant about getting an abortion. In contrast, Midwives is a documentary about the conflict occurring in Myanmar. This film focuses on the relationships between the Rohingya and the Rakhine communities. Following the lives of Hla and Nyo Nyo, two women who run a clinic made for people who need medical attention and care for people in need of obstetric help who can’t go anywhere else.
One of the similarities I found Nyo Nyo and Anne share is having a personal dream be halted by sexual health restrictions. After learning she is pregnant, Anne considers her options. She decides to go to a doctor who refuses her obstetric service at first. But, after her persistence, she is prescribed a shot that will supposedly facilitate the abortion process. However, she is conned. Since many doctors during the ’60s were against abortion, the doctor that Anne saw had, in actuality, provided her with a shot that had strengthened the embryo. Not only was she temporarily suspended in life by her pregnancy by not being able to achieve her academic dreams, but Anne was also halted with the intricacies that come along with trying to get proper and safe medical attention. In Midwives, Nyo Nyo expresses her desire to move to the city of Yangon so she can study to be a nurse. However, she ends up getting pregnant. The documentary doesn’t state exactly how she finds herself pregnant, but she knows she is because she has experience with pregnancy, specifically diagnosing other women as pregnant. Although Nyo Nyo is frustrated with the current state of her village and the oppression of Muslims, as well as the fact that she cannot move to Yangon, she doesn’t let that stop her from accomplishing her dreams. With the help of her family, she builds a clinic of her own so she can help others, just like at Hla’s clinic. Along with the achievements of Nyo Nyo, Anne, in Happening, is able to successfully get an abortion, however, it is not a safe one. Anne then continues her academic success in university. The story of Anne is a great example of how important it is for sexual education to be properly taught and not misled, and how everyone deserves to know the correct precautions and information when it comes to safe sex.
I, and other teen council members, had the amazing opportunity to interview Audrey Diwan, director of Happening. After being asked what message the audience should take away from Happening, she answers, “I don’t make movies with messages. I make movies that ask questions.” To get feedback from her audience, she asks what questions the audience had when we watched the film. When Diwan asked this, I couldn’t help but ask myself, then and initially when I had watched the film, “What would I do in Anne’s situation? What would I do now, and what would I have done in 1963?” Knowledge and information about abortion were obviously different in 1963, as well as taking into account that I have grown up in America, not France. According to The New York Times, if Roe vs. Wade (Supreme Court decision in which a pregnant woman can choose to have an abortion without goverment restriction) is overturned, more than 20 states are expected to ban or limit abortion at all stages of pregnancy. The political unrest in America, when it comes to abortion, severely differs from that of France, for example. In modern-day France, contraception and abortion are considered to be fundamental rights. Although there are people in America who believe this, there is a hard discernment between pro-life, and pro-choice. I think something we can all ask ourselves are these types of questions:
What would you have done if your future of promise was taken away from you because you had sex?
What would you have done if you had tried to better yourself only to be stuck and conned by doctors, or shunned by your best friends?
The opportunity to watch multiple films at Sundance has been extremely eye-opening. This experience has encouraged me to be more active in my community, as well as understand the struggles that many people face regarding social, reproductive, and sexual health injustice. I have been able to recognize my privilege and reflect on the ways I view abortion as well as the injustice occurring in other countries. I highly recommend these films to teenagers, and adults alike to get a better understanding of the issues that we face, considering that nearly one in four women of reproductive age has received abortion services. It is important to realize the impacts people face when restricted with essential and fundamental sexual health services. Personally, as someone who has never gotten an abortion, these films helped me get a better view of the world and the privilege that I have, as well as the injustices that many others face.
