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The rise and fall of the feminist

The Feminists
Regissør: Viktor Nordenskiöld
(Sverige)

What happens when you end up in a position to actually realize the policy you claim to stand for? Director Viktor Nordenskiöld has been following former Foreign Minister in Sweden, Margot Wallström, for four years.




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

The Feministers powerful premise announces a radical course change: "In an era of male despots, Margot Wallström declares that she will pursue a feminist foreign policy." "Feminist politics means that we should talk and actively agitate for women's rights, peace and security," Wallström said at the beginning of the film. The documentary is about the national and international opposition to the implementation of a feminist foreign policy. After meeting with the film's more challenging parties, I am left with the feeling that it is hopelessly far behind the goal.

Filmed portraits of well-known politicians have become a genre of their own in recent years, both while active and in retrospective TV series format. Getting close to those with power and decision-making appeal and can provide insight in different ways. The Feminists shows playful beats with the choice of title, but otherwise very closely follows the Foreign Minister with the camera. The film in no way challenges its main character by trying to create a more close-up portrait: When and where the camera has to be turned off, or not allowed to release, is telling.

The price of power

As a fly on the wall, we join the beautiful corridors and gilded chambers of power. Surrounded by important men in high-status suits, Wallström seems refreshing with her honest "straight from the liver" speech. I'm wondering which horse dealers she entered into for such a position. But the film doesn't give me much time to ponder: Abruptly it reveals the shadow side of going hard and wide for its ideals. Wallström recognizes Palestine as an independent state and condemns out-of-court Israeli executions of Palestinians. She reprimands Saudi Arabia for human rights violations in connection with the whipping of blogger Raif Badawi. The response to both Wallström's plays is – as expected – hateful and ugly. The Foreign Minister gets a few hard punches.

The "feminist" is riding the storm off and aiming for candidacy in the UN Security Council.

At the same time, a larger context is missing, such as the fact that Saudi Arabia also broke off diplomatic relations with Canada, due to their support for the same Badawi. Without this, the reactions against Wallström can quickly be interpreted as pure sexism. But, the resistance Wallström gets, is first and foremost because she is a woman in brave opposition to the male-dominated power. Visually, the film highlights this. Where I initially perceived conventional filming as boring, I gradually see how it accentuates a female politician who knows how to flow with the flow, and then, at the right moment, dare to resist steeply. The strength of the Foreign Minister's character warms my chest, but as a human being she still slips away.

The film makes a change of pace

On the content side, it seems as if we have ended up in the political soap opera: Newspaper front pages fade in and out; loose earlobes and fists are extended towards the "feminist"; "Anti-Semitic" and "anti-Islam" are some of the accusations that are being leveled at her.

The Feminists
The Feminists. Director Viktor Nordenskiöld

Wallström is not only a rapper, she is also ambitious. In the film, we see several times how the two qualities stick sticks in the wheels for each other. Dramaturgically, this gives an opportunity for the viewer to empathize with the main character, but something in the film means that only the intellect can be touched. Like when Saudi Arabia refuses to let Wallström meet and speak in the League: Why do I not care, despite her great vision of making the Arab states more predisposed to democracy and women's rights? Does the film suffer from having too rich material and too slow scenes?

The "feminist" is in a hurry

Her long-term political perspectives are glimpsed through the hurried sequences of drama, scandals and incitement. Yes, it boils – and the tension rises: When will it be too much for her?

Under the belt location. With aroused curiosity about how strong her shield is, I look back and find a youth as a political broiler, in addition to several different ministerial posts. Wallström has attended a school where an impeccable appearance and blunt answer has often been enough to sweep away the opposition. But is it the political upbringing that is to blame for the invisible wall between us and her? The film tries to approach, but neither a bunch of vulnerable reflections, a confession about the experience of abuse, nor a couple of directed short scenes about the influence from the mother, ability to tear down the wall or create a bond with Wallström.

Then it slams

Israel and Saudi Arabia hit hard on the wallet: Billions in losses for the Swedish arms industry. Crocodile tears from the Swedish business community are mixed with free-spirited blackmail campaigns from the opposition. Suddenly, the film depicts the political climate as a weight, with women's rights and human life weighed against the billion-dollar industry. Sweden's most popular politician, the "feminist", is riding the storm and aiming for candidacy in the UN Security Council.

There is an invisible wall between us and the Foreign Minister.

The environmental depiction that follows is a gem in the film. An intricate and lavish campaign seeks to repair the alliance damage caused by the outspoken foreign minister: Lubrication gifts to several tens of millions, sponsored by the Swedish state are revealed. Wallström takes the confrontations head on. But death threats with references to the murder of the man behind the white buses and the UN's first envoy to Palestine / Israel, Folke Bernadotte (killed by Zionists in Jerusalem in 1948), are too strong. Superfeminists crack. The film nevertheless hurries on and reaches international peace mediation with both small and large despots.

Feminist foreign policy is costly. The same goes for fighting for a place at the most important decision-making tables. One must be extremely resourceful – in every way – to stand up for the rights of the weakest.

Ellen Lande
Ellen Lande
Lande is a film writer and director and a regular writer for Ny Tid.

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