MeeraSahib Online: March 2022

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Opening Film

Rehna Maryam Noor

Female rage is powerfully distilled and expertly distributed in “Rehana Maryam Noor,” a riveting social drama about a female doctor who demands justice in a case of sexual assault at a Dhaka medical school. The second feature by Abdullah Mohammad Saad (“Live From Dhaka”) features a superb lead performance by Azmeri Haque Badhon as the medico whose relentless determination drives her toward reckless obsession. Still going strong in local cinemas four weeks after its Nov. 12 release, this provocative portrait of a complex and increasingly unstable woman is Bangladesh’s Oscar submission, with an early 2022 U.S. theatrical release planned under the abbreviated title of “Rehana.”

The first Bangladeshi feature selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes, “Rehana” has since notched significant festival mileage and picked up Best Actress and Grand Jury prizes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Playing more and more like a thriller as events unfold, “Rehana” packs a seething “enough is enough” message into every twist of a snowballing tale that asks viewers to consider whether some of the heroine’s choices can justify her goal of bringing a sexual predator to account. Neither condemning nor approving the actions of Dr. Rehana Maryam Noor (Badhon), Saad’s finely tuned screenplay does an exemplary job in allowing viewers to understand how her decisions are shaped and influenced by the enormous and destabilizing pressure she faces as a daughter, sister, widowed mother and professional woman in a patriarchal society.(courtesy: Variety)

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