UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND BROKEN HEARTS IN SITA SINGS THE BLUES

Abstract

In the feature film Sita sings the blues, director Nina Paley recreates some of the most striking episodes of the Ramayana, the epic Hindu poem on Rama’s heroic journey and the unconditional love of his wife Sita. In the film, however, the main character is Sita and not Rama. The story is presented from four different perspectives, which brings about in the viewers both a feeling of distancing from the historical context of the narrative and a feeling of psychological and personal proximity to universal patterns of behavior and sentiment which we can recognize immediately. The film underscores the power of myths and of classic stories, but does so in a way that is creative and light, without putting forth any thesis or philosophy. It is a praise of human complexities, of unconditional love, of the power of virtue, and of that which perhaps may deserve to be called our divine humanity.