Sita Sings the Blues - 11 July 2010

Film notes: Sita Sings the Blues is a (very) animated retelling of The Ramayana of Valmiki, the 3,000-year-old epic poem devoted to the trials of the god-king Rama. In Nina Paley's version of the foundational Hindu tale, The Ramayana is "the greatest break-up story ever told" and it is Sita's story. Plus, it's a musical sung in touching ditties by the 30s jazz singer, Annette Hanshaw. In this version of the marriage of Rama and Sita, Rama's rival, Ravana, still steals Sita away to Lanka, and the bereaved Rama still marshals the monkey army to win her back. But in this version, when Rama inexplicably repudiates the faultless Sita, the devoted wife has other things to do rather than jump on a funeral pyre in her grief. Meanwhile, following her man from San Francisco to Kerala, a mere mortal woman is having a few couple issues of her own.

Paley presents a gorgeous array of animation techniques to interlace the legendary, the jazzy, and the real-life tales of female heartbreak. She recounts the traditional tale in the ornate style of Moghul paintings. But in the musical numbers, sassy cartoonistry takes over: Sita bears a striking resemblance to Betty Boop as she sings the blues, and her man Rama looks a lot like Roger Ramjet. The modern-day love story places jittery hand-drawn characters against semi-photographic backgrounds. And the amateur-expert Indians who help explain The Ramayana appear as Balinese puppets. Indian responses to the film have been both hostile and appreciative. For The Times of India reviewer, the film is one more take on the troubling story of Sita.