Last night I attended my first “Flora’s Friday film”. We watched the movie Fire, a film directed by Deepa Mehta about two women from loveless marriages who grow close and later fall in love in spite of the societal stigma against woman-on-woman love. I really enjoyed this film because it felt like a very candid look in the life of an LGBT individual on the other side of the globe. By nature of living here in the United States, it often feels like everything we learn and experience has a very americentric lens, and I genuinely enjoy learning about other cultures through powerful, emotionally evocative movies like this one. There is a very high chance that I would never have been exposed to this movie otherwise, so I’m very glad I was able to attend this event.

Beyond the multicultural perspective, however, I really enjoyed this movie because it provided an interesting commentary on the nature of human desire. Even the comparison of the two brothers– one very conservative with an intense need to be in control of his desires, the other who succumbs to his desires to the extent of visibly and shamelessly cheating on his wife–offers a very interesting juxtaposition of two different ideologies. I feel, this film spoke to the human necessity for communication. We all have desires, but if we simply suffer in silence then nothing will come of them. Working toward being more open and willing to speak with one another candidly is a necessity for humanity as we become increasingly globalized, and I believe this film speaks to this idea.