Una Mujer Fantastica
Or A Fantastic Woman, the Chilean film directed by Sebastián Lelio, with trans actress Daniela Vega, won a number of awards since its release a year ago, beginning with the Best Screenplay at the Silver Bear in Berlin. Now it has won the Academy Award or Oscar for the Best Foreign Film. Having been to see it yesterday, I understand and approve. It is a brilliant, beautifully made film.
It is about trans singer/waitress Marina whose divorced lover, dies suddenly of an aneurism. This opens the floodgates of persecution and misery for her. The family and the ex-wife have recourse to all manners of provocations, including kidnapping and the inflicting of physical violence on her, all designed to humiliate her. She is a non-person, and is refused the right to say good-bye to or mourn the man she spent 6 years with, in a loving relationship. The various authorities, the Police, the Health Service etc … take a baleful approach to her, trying hard to prove that she has broken some law or laws. She is submitted to a humiliating medical examination, tested for use of drugs etc…
Time was, when Chile looked ready to join the more enlightened nations of this world, but after years of Pinochet, many gains have been neutralised. Chile is now considered to be a laggard when it comes to gender politics.
Michelle Bachelet (the outgoing president) vowed to introduce a liberal Gender Identity Bill before leaving office on the 11th of March, and she has three days left. This would seem a moot point as the President Elect Sebastián Piñera has promised that he would repeal such a law if it is passed.
