The film “Bread and Roses” is a harrowing and emotional look at the lives of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. After two decades of US occupation, the country once again fell into the hands of the Taliban insurgent group. The group quickly stripped women of their basic rights – simple freedoms like the ability to work, appear in public without a male chaperone, and the right to an education.
Sharing with Variety, Jennifer Lawrence said she felt helpless and disappointed with the way the media brought these stories into the news cycle and into people’s psychology. So to get people to encourage and pay attention to the plight of these women, Jennifer Lawrence produced “Bread and Roses”.
The interesting thing about this film lies in the extraordinary strength, courage and absolute strength of the women who created the resistance in Afghanistan. These women risk their lives, to protest a regime that does not consider them fully human. The harsh social binary imposed by the Taliban is shown here very clearly: You can be a good woman (an obedient virgin and a dutiful mother) or a terrible woman. And if you are a bad woman, you will be considered inferior and have all your rights stripped away.
Many people believe that the film is a necessary roar of anger for what is happening in Afghanistan, when half of the country’s population suffers oppression under a dictatorship. After being completed, “Bread and Roses” premiered for the first time in Cannes with a special screening./.