The Catholic Weekly 16 August 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 21 16, August, 2020 VISTA IS BACK! Get your parish activity noticed! Keep it brief. Don’t forget to include: date, address, time, brief description of event, contact name, phone number or email. Send your event to: [email protected] From prosecution to persecution REVIEWS MASS WEEKLY Community of Risen Christ continue to meet online for Divine Mercy prayer every Saturday at 8pm. All Welcome Zoom Meeting: https://zoom us/j/4399152776 Meeting ID: 439 915 2776, Password : 124622 Contact Steffi Sequeira on 0436 395 763 Holy Hours: 6 evenings a week (Mon to Sat) 8pm - 11pm; Adoration (half hour) after daily 8;30am Mass (Mon to Sat, except Tue), Tue 6-7pm. St Bernadette’s Carlton, 10 Argyle St, Carlton. VISTA 2020 SAINT JUDY ONE WOULDN’T consider a teacher leading her class to school to be offensive, but for a young woman in Afghan- stan it would be grounds for a death sentence. In the late 1970s, Asefa Ashwari was arrested and tor- tured by the Taliban for walk- ing with her group of school girls in public without a male escort. Managing to escape her family’s retribution, in what is known as honour killing, a battered and violated Asefa eventually found refuge in the United States. But this wasn’t where Ase- fa’s remarkable story of sur- vival ends. Held at a detention centre in Los Angeles for over a year, her fight to attain asylum had only just begun and is de- picted faithfully in the drama Saint Judy , set to be released in cinemas across Australia on 20 August. Written by Dmitry Portnoy, a fellow refugee who escaped persecution from the then-So- viet Union, the powerful yet preachy biopic is centred around immigration lawyer Judy Wood (played by Mi- chelle Monaghan). Wanting her son to be clos- er to his dad, Judy leaves her successful position as a pros- ecutor to take up a job as an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles. Her new money-conscious boss Ray Hernandez (played by AlfredMolina) expects Judy to learn the ropes by pumping out as many open-and-shut cases as possible. But he soon realises that her interests lie with people’s problems rather than their pockets when she takes on the case of Asefa Ashwari (played by Leem Lubany). Drugged up and set to be deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement SHOWING IN THEATRES (ICE), Asefa has lost all hope of attaining asylum as women weren’t considered a protect- ed class. Despite this reality, Judy uses her resourcefulness to get Asefa released and rehabilitat- ed in order to learn the truth of why she fled her family. Judy’s quest for justice not only shed light on Ase- fa’s persecution for being a woman seeking her rights, but it instigated change in US asylum laws which would save the lives of many other women. Leem Lubany is a stand- out as the bold but battered school teacher whose trust in Judy brings her back from the brink of total despair. Showcasing an impressive array of emotion, Lubany does well to capsulate Asefa’s pain and vunerability while portraying her transition to hope in an honest and believ- able manner. Likewise, Michelle Monaghan and Alfred Moli- na succeed in their attempt to play their roles truthfully and realistically, but a lack of char- acterisation and clumsy story telling limit their potential to engage the audience. Judging by the film’s title, Judy Wood is a person of vir- tue, integrity and high moral standing in all facets of her life. Director Sean Hanish’s decision to highlight these attributes in her role as a law- yer and as a single mother is admired but it’s saturation throughout the entire film stops the audience from con- necting deeply with Judy and at some points, such as when we see Judy drink from a ‘#1 mom’ mug, it becomes cringy. Due to parallels in story and personalities, one can’t help draw comparisons between Saint Judy and ErinBrockovich , the fact-based drama starring Julia Roberts. In that 2000 film, Erin’s flaws as a mother and em- ployee were on full display as director Steven Soderbergh bet it would make her more relatable, trusting his audi- ence with the ability to dis- cern Erin’s virtues in her con- cern for those in need. If Hanish took this on board, Judy’s good and hon- ourable character would have been evident simply in her pursuit of justice for Asefa and countless others. Another consequence of focusing too much on Judy’s flawless character is the way it effects how other personal- ities interact with her. Characters don’t get a chance to grow or devel- op normally and for Alfred Molina’s Ray or Common’s Benjamin Adebayo, their ac- ceptance of Judy’s perspective despite years of experience is as instantaneous as it is unre- alistic. Portnoy and Hanish do well to show the effect that Judy’s work has on her life as her son begins to be neglected and bills go unpaid. And they don’t shy away from exposing the ill treat- ment and lack of support of asylum seekers in detention centres. Overall, Saint Judy is an in- spiring story of one person’s conviction in their fight for truth and justice and admira- bly shines light on the plight of persecuted women across the world. The film is rated M for Ma- ture themes and coarse lan- guage. Session times along with other relevant informa- tion can be found at https:// www.saintjudymovie.com. au/ ¾ ¾ Mathew De Sousa Though preachy at times, JudyWood’s inspiring story highlights the plight of perscuted women Michelle Monaghan stars as JudyWood in the inspiring biopic on the immigration lawyer’s fight to protect persecuted women. PHOTO: ERICA PARISE/ SAINT JUDY PRODUCTIONS, LLC Overall, Saint Judy is an inspiring story of one person’s conviction in their fight for truth and justice and admirably shines light on the plight of persecuted women across the world.”