Sita Sings the Blues (2008)

It would not be too much praise to say that this is quite possibly the coolest and conceptually interesting animated film I've seen since "Spirited Away". I have no idea how this film got the go-ahead to be made, but more importantly I have no idea where the inspiration for this lavish, off-beat, and very interesting movie came from. Despite many aspects that could have made this a disaster it works, and it works well.

An interestingly feminist hue is applied to the Indian epic, Ramayana. In this tale which I read years ago Rama, the immaculate man who was banished for fourteen years with his wife, Sita, due to the conniving wishes on one of Rama's father's wives, ascends to the throne and rules justly. His treatment of Sita is less than chivalrous, though. Captured by the many headed Ravana, Sita remains pure and true to Rama, but her love is not appreciated and Rama believes her to be tainted. She endures a fire test to prove her purity--and passes--but he still holds doubts. Rama's self-centeredness loses him his wife who, having born him sons and remained ever faithful finally returns to the womb of Mother Earth where she is immortalized.

It's no spoiler writing this as you could find it on Wikipedia or in Sanskrit as the story is thousands of years old. The point is not to leave you guessing, but rather it is to re-imagine this classic tale placing it in a 21st century context. Alongside the traditional story is one of a couple in San Francisco. Dave is sent off to India to work in IT leaving what seemed to be a happy relationship with Nina behind. When she joins him his love for her is gone, and when he tells her not to come back while she is on a trip to New York Nina is understandably heartbroken. But reading the Ramayana and seeing the power of Sita she is comforted and assured that she is in the right.

It's a simple tale of one woman's devotion to her husband going unappreciated, but the way in which it's told is anything but ordinary. It is more of Westernized telling of it to make it accessible to ignorant white audiences like myself. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate and Sita moves the story along singing the bluesy music of Annette Hanshaw of the 1920's.

The animation seems to be inspired from a mixture of comic books, acid trips and cardboard cutouts. It makes 2D animation very 2D, but always challenges what the audience is expecting. The beginning of the second act (actually broken up by an intermission) is an amazing bit of Bollywood-themed dancing and cerebral images. It was stunning.

The running time is very short. There might not have been enough to the story to add, but more likely it was that the animation took too long to create. However, even at that brisk running time I felt there was a bit of filler in the story. Sita sings lots of songs. Lots. Also there was the intermission, and I'm not particularly sure that that secondary plot was necessary. I suppose giving the Ramayana context is good, but when all is said and done it seemed they were looking to stretch it out.

That said, the voice acting is great, the artwork is tremendous, and the story still seems fresh and compelling. I find it fascinating that whenever I watch a film about India I am always so much more interested in the culture. There is a romanticism, an exoticism, and an alien nature about it that I find irresistibly curious. All of those aspects were captured in this brief little movie and it was wonderful. Treasures like this film don't come around often enough--it was very inspiring.

3.5/4