A NATION WITHOUT WOMEN (MATRUBHOOMI)
Directed by: Manish Jha
Written by: Manish Jha, Sudhir Pandey, Sushant Singh, Tulip Joshi
Country: France, India
Year of Production: 2003
Running Time: 93 minutes
Subtitled: YES

In his debut feature Manish Jha presents a harrowing fairy tale of the future of rural India where, due to the prevalence of female infanticide, women are now almost eradicated. In this scary new world men play every role in society and have become unstable and debased of their humanity.

A rich landlord has five sons but cannot find a wife for any of them. Finally a girl is discovered, her father sells her into marriage with all five sons reducing her to a sexual slave and menial domestic. Only one son shows her kindness and in a fit of Cain and Abel-like jealousy he is killed by the elder brother. The degradation of the woman goes on, until one day she becomes pregnant. As all the men vie for the paternity of the child, a furious fight breaks out that ultimately leads to the woman’s emancipation.

Satirical in the extreme, this film highlights the abuse of women by men; of course, an issue not limited to India, and how ultimately this violence destroys the men who perpetrate it.

Cary Rajinder Sawhney