“The World Unseen” (2007), based on a novel of the same name by Shamim Sarif, is the kind of movie I like in that it depicts the lives of two women who stand up for what they want. It’s a woman’s story about crossing boundaries. As Liz Gilbert might say: “Attraversiamo!” Let us cross over.
Set in Capetown, South Africa, in the early days of the apartheid regime, the story revolves around Ameena, a young woman of Indian descent who resists the traditional marriage-wife-mother path, choosing instead, to pursue another course. She wears trousers; learns to drive; and opens a restaurant with Frederick, an older man of mixed race. The two team up to open a restaurant for mixed-race non-whites, primarily Indians and Asians. African blacks are not allowed.
The restaurant is routinely harassed by police who bully their way inside, inflicting as much damage as possible. Despite the harassment, the business flourishes. The food is good, the atmosphere inviting. Boundary-crosser though she may be, Ameena learns to stay just within the bounds of apartheid law, realizing that the popular restaurant is itself an act of resistance.
While giving the civil government its due, Ameena insists upon asserting her ‘human’ right to love whom she pleases. Turns out, that someone is Miriam, a pregnant Indian woman, mother of two, whose husband rates dead level on the A-Hole scale with the apartheid police. The plot thickens when Ameena’s grandmother decides that she must marry and opens negotiations with the family of a prospective groom. The plot rocks and rolls from there.
A crucial scene comes when Miriam finds Ameena in her bedroom, dressed in traditional Indian garb, prior to her meeting the prospective groom and family. Ameena is miserable. The two women have just begun to acknowledge their feelings for each other, yet, Ameena feels the weight of tradition bearing down, forcing her toward her ‘natural’ role as wife and mother. Surprisingly, it is Miriam, married at 19 (like me) who encourages Ameena to resist. “Wear what you like,” she says. Buoyed up by this, Ameena puts on her trousers and goes off to meet the groom.
Later Miriam questions Ameena about her pugnacity. Where did she get the idea that she could have a life of her choosing? The idea never would have, never could have occurred to her. Every woman she had known, or heard of ‘chose’ to marry when given the opportunity. There was no other way. “I wish I could be like you,” Miriam laments. To this Ameena responds, “Be careful what you wish for.”
Throughout the story, Miriam grows stronger as 1) she begins to imagine a different life for herself; and 2) she acknowledges how miserable she is in her marriage. When Ameena suggests that they run off together, Miriam refuses. She also defies her husband, telling him that she plans to take a job in town despite his objections. When he threatens to beat her into submission, she calmly looks him in the eye and says, “You must find another way to speak to me.”
What happens next is left hanging. Will Ameena and Miriam get together and live happily ever after? Who knows? The only certainty offered is that Miriam has ‘crossed over.’
