Myriam Uwiragiye Birara talks about "The Bride." The young Rwandan director addresses the issue of forced marriage, telling the story of a friendship between two women as a backdrop, demonstrating that shock can intertwine with a certain poetry. Explanations.
Family relationships and social expectations play a crucial role in "The Bride," within the context of a forced marriage. Is choosing this theme your way of expressing a commitment to change?
The reason I wanted to address this topic is mainly to talk about forced marriages. It stopped about 25 years ago, but we still live with the victims of these forced marriages, and no one talks about it, as if no sin had been committed in their genesis at some point. So, I wanted to shed light on this story and make it more known.
Filming scenes of violence is an emotional challenge for any director. How did the shooting of the highly sensitive sequences with the lead actress go?
Until now, she still cannot watch the film. When she had to be caught in scenes, she had bruises on her skin. It was her first time acting, so it wasn't easy; it was really tough for all the actors.
Shock for better awareness seems to be your gamble. But do you not fear that the shock could be off-putting for the audience?
I am aware that the film can be difficult to watch, and some topics are really delicate. But the film is not about that; it's not even about forced marriage. Primarily, the film focuses on the connection between two women. I wanted to highlight their friendship as the main subject of the film. This man is not a bad person either, but he does a bad thing because he is traditionalist; he thinks he will revive his family that was killed, but he also has wounds. It's hard to watch, but the film also has some light moments that can encourage you to keep watching and say, "oh, I know a bit more about Rwanda."
The context of your film is set a few years after the genocide against the Tutsi. How did this historical period influence the narrative and characters of your film? And how does this sad part of your national history still impact Rwanda?
Three years after the genocide, it was really terrible. People still had wounds; they were still in shock. At some point, they couldn't even know they had traumas; the word "trauma" is even new in my language.
The genocide is everywhere; it impacts our daily lives. We constantly remember it. We have this commemoration period in April every year, where we commemorate the genocide against the Tutsi. It's ingrained in our lives; it's inevitable.
"The Bride" highlights, through the issue faced by the character Eva, what you call in Rwanda "Gukuna," or the stretching of vaginal lips. Does this phenomenon still exist in Rwanda?
Women do it just to improve their sexual life with their partners, but some women really hate it, and others continue to do it. So, it depends on the person, but most of the time, the motivation is to make the man very happy.
