Bread and Roses: Jennifer Lawrence doc is a troubling success
Produced by Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, Bread and Roses is a documentary that captures a modern crisis happening right now. It analyses modern Afghanistan, and the effects of the 2021 offensive that saw The Taliban seize control.
The film focuses on the effect it has had on women, whose rights to work, education, and privacy have been stripped away. It follows the journeys of three women: a former government employee now isolated indoors; a dentist robbed of her livelihood; and an activist forced to flee to Pakistan. In all cases, defiance is met with the constant threat of violence.
Some documentaries can be slowed down by filler, following moments of everyday life in order to cover for a lack of tension. There’s no such issue here, as every scene feels loaded with the anxiety. The camera sits in secret revolutionary meetings, and looks from the back seat of a car as women resist the force of Taliban soldiers. Every second feels precious to those captured, as chants of “Work! Bread! Education” become a more desperate cry of “Work! Bread! Freedom!”.
It’s humbling to see the resilience of those denied the most basic human rights, looking their oppressors in the eye and accepting that this latest altercation may be their last. Equally moving is their belief that somehow, someday, it will be better. As you watch camera footage of women being beaten and houses being burned, the admiration for that conviction only grows.
Put together hastily from camera phone footage, Bread and Roses is a reminder that suffering still goes on after the headlines have left the news cycle. Documentaries such as this keep those women in the headlines, hopefully pushing for a day where further action is taken.
Bread and Roses is in cinemas from November 22nd