Revy
15th March 2010, 05:17
This is a revolutionary socialist feminist film from 1983. I highly recommend it.
Note: spoilers below (basically most of the plot, including the ending)
The film begins in a society ten years after the "War of Liberation" in the United States of America which created a "socialist" society (or so we are led to believe). sometime during or after this war, labor unions affiliated to the Social Labor Party, and the power of the Democratic Party collapsed. The shift in power is referred to as a "Revolution" and indeed many revolutionaries fought to build a socialist society. But the truth is, it can be called social democracy at best.
And even though "the Party" (as the Social Labor Party is often referred to) is social democratic in ideology, it's very similar to state capitalist regimes. The economic system of capitalism continues, and the genuine revolutionaries, of which a vanguard of radical women (many of them black lesbians) called the Women's Army is a prominent component, are referred to as counter-revolutionary.
The film follows Adelaide Norris, a black lesbian socialist revolutionary. As she begins to turn the Women's Army from a radical underground group into an armed militia, she is imprisoned and assassinated by the party's state police, and the death is branded a suicide.
Even the editors of the Socialist Youth Review believe this was a conspiracy, and they begin to sympathize with the Women's Army. for this they are fired from their positions. The Women's Army hijacks a TV station airing a Presidential address, and replaces the video with a message with the truth about the murder of Adelaide Norris.
Phoenix Radio and Radio Ragazza are two radical radio stations that are part of the plot. They are burned down, presumably by the government, who blames it on vandals.
The revolutionaries are further radicalized, and there's more commentary on how they are living in a "fake socialist state" that should be overthrown.
In perhaps the most controversial part of the film, a woman (who could be allied to the Women's Army, but that wasn't explicitly implied) plants a bomb in the World Trade Center, which explodes. the film ends with a shot of the explosion.
also, the one part of the film I thought seemed a little out of place is there is a random shot of a condom being put on a penis. I don't mean that to sound prudish but it had nothing to do with the other scenes before and after it.
5 out of 5 stars.
Note: spoilers below (basically most of the plot, including the ending)
The film begins in a society ten years after the "War of Liberation" in the United States of America which created a "socialist" society (or so we are led to believe). sometime during or after this war, labor unions affiliated to the Social Labor Party, and the power of the Democratic Party collapsed. The shift in power is referred to as a "Revolution" and indeed many revolutionaries fought to build a socialist society. But the truth is, it can be called social democracy at best.
And even though "the Party" (as the Social Labor Party is often referred to) is social democratic in ideology, it's very similar to state capitalist regimes. The economic system of capitalism continues, and the genuine revolutionaries, of which a vanguard of radical women (many of them black lesbians) called the Women's Army is a prominent component, are referred to as counter-revolutionary.
The film follows Adelaide Norris, a black lesbian socialist revolutionary. As she begins to turn the Women's Army from a radical underground group into an armed militia, she is imprisoned and assassinated by the party's state police, and the death is branded a suicide.
Even the editors of the Socialist Youth Review believe this was a conspiracy, and they begin to sympathize with the Women's Army. for this they are fired from their positions. The Women's Army hijacks a TV station airing a Presidential address, and replaces the video with a message with the truth about the murder of Adelaide Norris.
Phoenix Radio and Radio Ragazza are two radical radio stations that are part of the plot. They are burned down, presumably by the government, who blames it on vandals.
The revolutionaries are further radicalized, and there's more commentary on how they are living in a "fake socialist state" that should be overthrown.
In perhaps the most controversial part of the film, a woman (who could be allied to the Women's Army, but that wasn't explicitly implied) plants a bomb in the World Trade Center, which explodes. the film ends with a shot of the explosion.
also, the one part of the film I thought seemed a little out of place is there is a random shot of a condom being put on a penis. I don't mean that to sound prudish but it had nothing to do with the other scenes before and after it.
5 out of 5 stars.