Back in 2016, Abdullah Mohammad Saad made quite an impact with his debut feature, “Live from Dhaka”, which ended up screening in festivals all over the world, and winning Best Director and Best Performance awards for Mostafa Monwar, from Singapore International Film Festival. Five years later, Saad returns with a film that is easy to say that is even better. “Rehana Maryam Noor” is the first Bangladeshi film to screen in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, and also the Bangladeshi entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards
“Rehana Maryam Noor” is screening at Five Flavours
Rehana is a 37-years old woman who is working as an assistant professor at the Medical Academy in Dhaka. She is tough, strict and not particularly sociable, something that has given her something of a “fame” among the students. At the same time, she has to raise her little daughter on her own, support her brother financially and take care of her elderly mother. The fateful day the story begins with Rehana catching a student, Mimi, trying to cheat, and without a second thought, expelling her, despite the protests of her friend, Annie. A bit later, however, she witnesses her superior, Dr Arefin, molesting the latter girl, and makes it her mission both to take care of Annie and to make the professor pay the consequences. Her “trip” takes her to his wife, Ayesha, who happens to be a friend of hers, the director of the school, and the Doctor himself. Eventually, however, the whole system turns against her, including the body of students, while her daughter also has to face issues due to her behaviour in school, and Rehana seems to have no time to spare for her.
Abdullah Mohammad Saad creates a movie that essentially functions as a thriller, with the tension and agony starting from the first frame and never actually ceasing, as the classes, the corridors and the offices of the Academy create a claustrophobic sense that gives the a labyrinthic sense to the whole narrative, as Rehana seems to be unable to get away from this maze both herself, but most of all, the system has placed her in. Even more, as time passes, it becomes obvious that she gets more entangled in it, an aspect that presents Saad's main comment here, that in the excessively patriarchal Bangladeshi society, a woman trying to do the right thing does not have much hope to achieve anything, only to make things worse for herself.
However, and despite the fair, self-sacrificing nature of her fight, Rehana never actually emerges as a truly likeable character, since her polemic, heroic, against-all-odds, constantly on the offence attitude does not demand sympathy, but only respect. This approach also extends to her “enemies” who Saad does demonize at all, in a combination that intensifies the realism of the movie. At the same time, however, Saad's approach is harshly pragmatic, essentially highlighting the futility of going against the system, particularly when one's situation is already as harsh as Rehana's, with the rather impactful ending posing a question regarding if all this was worth it. (could analyze more here, but that would spoil the movie).
The main medium of all the comments, but also the narrative style mentioned in the beginning is the impervious Azmeri Haque Badhon (who is actually also a dentist who studied at the Bangladesh Dental College in Dhaka) as Rehana. The way she depicts the pressure she feels, constantly boiling inside but having to present a calm, socially acceptable facade is a wonder to watch on the screen, and also a trait that makes the moments she either appears as a kind, sensitive mother or the ones where she erupts even more impactful. Saad anchored the film on her, as she appears essentially in every scene, and she delivered in the most astonishing fashion.
The tension and the sense of claustrophobia are also intensified by Tuhin Tamijul's cinematography, particularly in the presentation of the school as a kind of cage (prison if you prefer) although the intensely blue hues that dominate the images could have been altered a bit, and Saad's own editing, who gives a rather fast, essentially relentless pace to the movie, with the job in both aspects being top notch.
“Rehana Maryam Noor” is an excellent film, realistic and pragmatic in the most pointed way, but also rather entertaining in its thriller premises. Essentially, one of the best films of the year.
