By Linda Winsh-Bolard
Two women had lost their husbands when the planes crashed into the towers on 9/11. Both were pregnant, unprepared to became widows. When they met, they instantly understood and liked each other.
Susan Retik and Patti Quigley, having gone through stages of grief and anger, decided that they would not be defined by an act of terrorism that changed their lives, or by their widowhood.
Patti was horrified by President Bush's declaration of war on Afghanistan, none of the 9/11 terrorist even came from Afghanistan, because she sees the war only as creating more widows and orphans while bringing no solution.
She and Susan decided to help some of the widows. They both see the activity as helping them as much as the women of Afghanistan. I knew nothing about Afghanistan before 9/11, Patti says, but now it’s all over the news. Patti and Susan wish to use their experience to create a connection between widows on both sides. They want some good to come out of the bloodshed over which they have no control.
While this might sound rather naive, neither Susan nor Patti is an inexperienced idealist. They want practical help for the women. To launch their fund raising, they started bicycling from Ground Zero to Boston. They find people who provide practical help to Afghan windows, skills and means of making living. They monitor "their widows" for any extra needs in an attempt to give them some control over their lives.
This is not a political crusade for either of them. And that makes the events they live through, and Ms. Murphy shows in the film, all the more poignant.
From the kidnapped Italian CARE worker to the “sea of blue” – endless queue of women swathed in blue burqas, the women wear them out of fear even if they dislike them- to the lack of food, housing, schooling and ultimate imprisonment in endless widowhood- the women have to leave their children with the families of their dead husbands should they re-marry, it mocks governmental proclamations of progress achieved by armed forces.
The gas pipe, the one the Soviets fought for and the Americans got, is never mentioned, yet it looms as a dark shadow over the misery that is life in Afghanistan.
This is not a classical documentary intercepted with black and white pages, photographs and footage. Nor is it a dramatic tale with a happy end. It is slowly paced, gentle examination of grief and personal growth. Murphy does not probe, nor does she present her views, solutions and beliefs. She shows grieving women harmed by powerful men. That in itself is a powerful message. Women pay for male folly with lifetime of pain and poverty. There are some astounding visual realization, such as how thin you become when a captive. Or how disfigured you’ll be after your home was shelled. Those are things usually invisible.
Patti and Susan are very different, their reactions, feelings and hopes traced in the film are powerfully human because they are real. It makes the film sometimes painful to watch.
True, the Americans are wealthy and secure in their homes and futures, as much as possible. But it is unlikely that those among the American victims, and undoubtedly they were some, that were left pregnant and destitute after their husbands were murdered on 9/11, their healthcare canceled and their paychecks stopped, could work toward the concept of bridging grief among equally betrayed women far away. They would not have had the time or means to do so.
I had wondered more about Patti’s family, largely absent, while Susan’s is so supportive than about having more of the Afghan misery shown. I got the gist of that. I also got the message even as I was wondering about the astounding difference money can make.
Produced and directed by Beth Murphy; directors of photography, Kevin Belli and Sean Flynn; edited by Mr. Belli and Ms. Murphy; music by Evren Celimli; released by the Film Sales Company. At the Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes.
