Women Are Heroes By J.R.

We go into cinemas, sit in front of a screen and watch stories unravel in front of our eyes. We try to submit ourselves to the narratives, understand the characters and feel the emotions they are going through. But when the film is over and the lights go back on, we all inevitably return to our daily existences.

In his debut film Women are Heroes the extravagant J.R., famous for his breath-taking photographs, explores what is happening with screens away from the cinemas and with characters outside fiction. The movie follows a project of the artist in which several large montages of faces are being placed on the walls of the communities his subjects belong to. The portraits showcase various women old and young, coming from the Brazilian favelas, Kenyan slums, poor regions of India and Sierra-Leone, or the Cambodian streets. All of them managed to survive severe poverty, rape or the deaths of close family members in gang wars, and this while still being able to joke and smile. Regardless of how difficult the conditions, they all kept fighting for their day-to-day existence, for a better life and sometimes even for a decent future.

Although initially it might seem to be a simple making-of, the documentary not only presents how having the pictures displayed in public places influences and changes their lives, but also covers the reasons why all these women should be regarded as heroes. Interestingly enough, we also get to see the immediate effects of the portrait exhibitions within the communities. The director makes sure to capture the neighbours’ reactions towards the images displayed on their walls, trains and garbage trucks, and the “infestation” of positive energy generated by the images. J.R.’s work transcends the screen: through the pictures he inspires people facing various difficulties, and then again throughout the movie itself more people get to experience the great stories of these amazing individuals. Art overcomes its entertaining role and manages to really make a difference.

Every shot in the film is beautifully constructed, with incredible colours even in the greyest and most depressing spaces. J.R. leaves none of his spectators wondering whether images truly are as powerful as they seem and can literally change lives.

By Maria Dicieanu