WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
How can it really be wrong when the heart is definitively in the right place? In our current world that continues to see such overt strife, anger, discontent, fear, and judgement, it remains evident and blatantly obvious when someone chooses to step up and enact an actual good deed. While we hope this is the desire of all people with any sense of right and wrong, even such acts can, sadly, still bring backlash. When this occurs, however, what reaction will those who did said act have? For a middle-aged transgender woman named Kausar (Saima Butt), this will become her reality upon venturing to a local hospital in order to donate blood to a precious life in dire need. After the process goes through its cycle, a moment manifests that causes Kausar to pause, ponder, and realize the confident yet painful stand she must be firm in.
Next, my Mind:
Undeniably stirring, intentionally defiant in its convictions presented, resolute in the ultimate message it conveys, and painting a still all-too-real portrait of the realities encountered by those within the LGBTQ community, this just beyond seven-and-a-half-minute short film project from writer/director Mahnoor Zaidi, writer Anoushe Sheharnaz Hasan, and producer Sundus Hashmi finds itself well-placed for its Texas Premier as part of the Pakistani and LGBTQ Programming to be featured at the 2022 DFW SAFF sponsored by Toyota USA and hosted by Jingo Media Founder/Festival Director Jitin Hingorani and Artistic Director Ambica Dev. The broader importance and pertinency of indie filmmakers to have newfound freedom to express the subject matters associated with these lifestyle choices has become more and more prevalent in South Asian cinema since the landmark decision made in India back in September 2018 but remains a harder endeavor in a country like Pakistan that still holds a sense of animosity towards it.
Hence, for this critic, it made an even greater impression to see this effort come forth as one of FOUR short films from said country that sees these themes explored, executed with unadulterated potency each time. I personally don’t tend to gravitate towards these particular themes, yet once more get wonderfully touched and pleasantly amazed here via a narrative that finds the undertaking of a transgender woman simply seeking to do good but then being confronted with the ongoing actualities of severely misplaced, ongoing non-acceptance based on who she is. It immediately elicits within you both heartbreak and understandable anger that human beings, regardless of agreeing or disagreeing with a given choice someone has made, continue to choose resentment, fear, misguided perceptions, and utter unease as the “solution” rather than more peaceable means to deal with what they do not wish to acknowledge much less affirm.
While the film addresses many of the most commonly traversed notions when it comes to the queer lifestyle–ie: overt prejudice, discrimination, fear of others “becoming like someone” aka: it’s a disease (watch the film for context), and familial rejection–it does so through the eyes of an individual whose calm manner and truly affable overall personality would belie the pain felt when the sting of overhearing such unkind “accusations” against them, and it adds a dimension to this narrative that very much strikes your soul and moves you emphatically in its brief verbal violence while immersing us in an understated atmosphere that speaks so deftly about lingering inner hurt vs. glaringly conspicuous confrontational circumstances. The far more pleasant relatability factor delivered throughout the film’s first two acts allows the finale to have a persuasiveness that one cannot help but BE impacted by. It’s a keen and insightful means to project the intended themes we’re given to consider during and after the film is over.
Honestly, Butt is a wonder to me here in her performance as Kausar, a transgender woman who’s only trying to make a positive difference in another’s life, doing so with a selflessness that speaks to her heart to just live, exist, like anyone else in her surroundings. Even as she navigates the paperwork and her own innate fears associated with being at the medical facility to make her donation of blood to someone in need, it still proceeds with a natural nervousness and determination as someone doing what she is would most likely encounter. Kausar banters with staff, attempts to be friendly with other patrons and patients and all seems well until afterwards when she’s reminded of what the world is really like. Having to showcase the level of impact this instance has without making it overly melodramatic would be a task in my opinion, but how Butt performs it is absolutely awesome and makes it deeply resonate with us, a credit to Butt’s acting abilities and the commitment to how she portrays the character to ensure maximum influence over us.
Supporting roles are present from Mehrbano Raja, Abdullah Malik, Nida Malik, Kamran Goury, Fawad Akmal Khan, and Ridda Ali as patrons, patients, the nurse who handles Kausar’s admittance and procedure, and a worried, frantic mother who becomes the catalyst for an unsettled departure from the hospital for Kausar. So, in total, “Four Fifty Five mL” becomes the newest indie short film dealing with the LGBTQ topic that very adeptly transcends its core motif and illustrates both the splendor of an altruistic, compassionate outlook on life vs. abject fear, unacceptance, and barely veiled animosity towards someone based on their lifestyle choice. It keeps becoming this growing, evocative reminder that we as human beings truly need to rediscover what should be our basic decency that we may also agree to disagree without the results fostering so much resentment that we simply don’t need, and certainly shouldn’t desire to allow to become what we call normal.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
