Sita Sings The Blues

Directed By Nina Paley

Review By Roberto Azula

A vivid, feminist recasting of the Indian epic Ramayana, Sita Sings The Blues has all you would expect in a lavish Bollywood production: romantic songs, bhangra dance beats, glitzy dance numbers, and a ridiculous story. But given the film’s source material, that’s not too surprising. An excellent companion piece to last year’s Persepolis, Sita Sings the Blues is another animated triumph. Cleverly interweaving the jumpy and mournful jazz numbers of 20s singer Annette Hanshaw, director Nina Paley puts the Ramayana through the wringer to expose the myth’s ambiguous, mercurial themes. Is the Ramayana inherently misogynistic? What does it tell us about the role of women in India, or in the world in general? Is Sita really the ultimate doormat, or does she display another kind of strength and defiance? These are heavy questions, but the narrators (portrayed as shadow puppet cutouts) explore these questions to very funny results.

I was impressed with the films stylized, often psychedelic imagery, which matched the fantastic soundtrack perfectly. In one of the funniest scenes, Rama and Hanuman’s army charge into the demon king Ravana’s castle in an orgy of Warner Brothers level of absurd violence. The sounds are rendered Batman style (Biff! Pow! Crunch!), but with a pseudo-Sanskrit typeface. Another laugh aloud moment involves a holy man teaching Sita’s sons a song to praise Rama, despite the fact that Rama has treated their mother rather shabbily. With a dot bouncing on the lyrics so we can sing along, the boys sing, “Rama is great! Rama is good! Rama always does what he should!”, among other absurd, slavish praises to Rama.

My main problem with Sita Sings The Blues is that is got a little repetitive. It was delightful discovering the classic voice of Annette Hanshaw, but listening to what seemed to be an entire album of her selections became somewhat monotonous. Paley also tries to frame her own story of breakup to Sita’s woes in the film’s clumsiest, least convincing sections. Still, Sita Sings The Blues is lovely, raucous tapestry, sure to anger religious fundamentalists and confuse the general public. And those are the hallmarks I look for in a good film.