【影片簡介】她和她的世界 The World Before Her
【身份認同】篇 Awakening of Identities
她和她的世界
The World Before Her
加拿大 Canada︱2012 ︱90 min︱Nisha PAHUJA
2012 紐約翠貝卡影展最佳紀錄長片
Best Documentary Feature, Tribeca Film Festival
2012 加拿大Hot Docs國際紀錄片電影節最佳加拿大紀錄長片
Best Canadian Feature, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
廿位年輕貌美、身材姣好的女子從印度各地來到孟買的一間豪華酒店，參加「印度小姐」選美的密集培訓營。她們揮汗健身、忍痛美容、學習如何在鏡頭前展現最佳狀態……一切努力都是為了贏得那一頂后冠和舉國知名的保障，也為了從傳統社會價值對女性的束縛中爭取自由。
然而，極為西化的選美賽事只是當前印度社會的一個面向。當佳麗們拼搏選美后冠之時，本片亦深入印度的另一個角落：由「德加瓦西尼」（Durgha Vahini）──印度最大的民族主義女性團體所主辦的年度訓練營。在這裡，另一群女孩也正密集地進行訓練：她們深究印度教教義、學習搏鬥、使用槍械，決心為保衛印度教基本教義派而奮鬥；更願犧牲性命以對抗其他信仰的遵奉者和日漸西化的社會價值觀。該訓練營被印度政府認為宣揚恐怖主義而試圖禁止，在本片之前，從未有人獲准進入該訓練營內拍攝。
印度是世界上人口最多的民主國家，在其快速發展現代化的當口，不論是積極擁抱西方資本主義價值觀，或是堅守傳統宗教規範，看似對立的兩種女性，其實懷抱的是同一種寄望……
In the lobby of a Bombay hotel, 20 young women from across India arrive for an intense, month-long beauty boot camp. They are the hand-picked contestants for the Miss India pageant, the ultimate glamour event in a country that has gone mad for beauty contests. Winning the coveted title means instant stardom, a lucrative career path and, for some girls, freedom from the constraints of a patriarchal society.
As the contestants move through beauty boot camp, filmmaker Nisha PAHUJA travels to another corner of India to visit an annual camp for young girls run by the Durgha Vahini, the women’s wing of the militant fundamentalist movement. Through lectures and physical combat training, the girls learn what it means to be good Hindu women and how to fight against Islam, Christianity and Western influences by any means necessary. The Indian government says these camps promote terrorism and is trying to ban them. Until now, they have never been filmed.
Moving between the transformative action at both camps and the characters’ private lives, The World Before Her creates a lively, provocative portrait of the world’s largest democracy at a critical transitional moment. These young women may represent opposing extremes but in their hearts they share a common dream: to help shape the future of India as she meets the world before her.