Whether she’s a performer who owns the stage or a chef who helps you learn good taste, a woman who fought the system to prove her innocence, a bar-tender turned politician not afraid to speak her mind or just an evil genius who persuaded a pizza delivery man to wear a bomb collar, women are making this world worth every whiplash you receive when you watch these fabulous docu-series.
What does a woman screenwriter, dreamer of movies do when she’s cheated by a filmmaker? Especially when she's eighteen years old and the person who runs away with the footage of her film is her mentor? She finishes college and begins her life anew of course. And because the truth is stranger than fiction, she receives a phone call and learns that the mentor is now dead and she can have the footage back.
Shirkers is a superb tale of perseverance from Singapore. Filmmaker Sandi Tan converted that footage from her childhood and tells us a tale about her mentor Georges Cardona through her friends who also knew him, and teaches us valuable life lessons. This documentary is just too marvelous to be missed.
The next documentary I almost missed, because I’m not in the right age bracket to be a fan of her music. But something about a snatch of her song, ‘how you laugh when you lie’ made me want to know more about her.
Imagine trying to live up to people’s expectations, and not just your family and friends, mind you, but the expectations of millions of her fans and the record label executives who were ruling her life. I may not ever wear the blazing red lipstick she wears in her videos, but I do want the cat backpack. More seriously, anyone who has ever lived under constant scrutiny, or has felt isolated because their lives have not been like the nine to five lives people lead will understand what this young woman went through.
No, I’m not being maudlin. But it made me revisit a documentary I was hitherto unable to recommend simply because I wanted to hoard it for myself. It is about my favourite singer Nina Simone. The velvet luxury of that voice hides a heart so strong and a mind so fierce you would stand up and salute it. No wilting willow, she was strong and rebellious and all kinds of wonderful. She sang for civil liberties, and for joy and her formidable persona hid so much of her...
What I’d give to hear Nina Simone sing Langston Hughes’ Backlash Blues or Wild Is The Winds or my favourite How It Feels To Be Free! But that voice came with a history and I will be forever grateful for Netflix for giving us such a treasure trove of originals.
If I could pray, I would pray that you would receive the gift of appreciation of jazz and the blues. Perhaps you enjoy food then, eh? You have travelled the world with Bourdain and eaten Ugly Delicious, but this woman chef makes food as awesome as she explains in her inimitable way how to taste the world. American chef Samin Nosrat and her expressive, twinkling eyes tell us how there are food adventures all across the world waiting to be experienced.
How infectious is her laugh! I might never buy a live eel and cook it, but she waxes so eloquently about the flavours in food, that you forget that this entire series misses out on ‘sweet’. Her story is as inspiring as her book. The illustrations in the book make it unique and the charts of possibilities make cooking a personal experience.
For a news junkie like me, it has been rewarding to follow three strong women who have managed to win the elections from traditionally Republican neighbourhoods in the United States and offer real, progressive agenda, I have watched with awe as Congresswoman Katie Porter decimates the bulldust she confronts in the United States Congress, I have watched Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Rashida Talib standing up to bullies. But most of all I have watched a young bartender turned Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio Cortez take on opponents and force them to listen to her ideas. Mind you, I don’t like all of her ideas, but it is inspiring to see so much passion.
This series follows the campaigns of four determined young women who challenged the establishment and won.
But hey, don’t get me wrong. I am not just recommending these awesome documentaries because they are woman centric, you know. It being International Women’s Day and all matters, but let’s throw a spanner in the beautiful, crystal clean waters of this column and show you the flip side of lives too. Women criminals. Yes, the title of this series is called Evil Genius. And you had better not be eating pizza when you watch this. Why? Because our truly evil woman antagonist persuades one guy to help her rob a bank, another to build a bomb, and then persuades the pizza delivery guy to wear that bomb collar around his neck and rob the bank. Alas, the bomb goes off and they track her down and even incarcerate her. But she makes everyone believe she’s innocent.
But hey! Most of us are as mild as ever and easy to please with cheesecake, chocolates and a good pinot… And if you treat the women in your life with respect, you will receive more than love.
(Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication.)
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