The Red Phallus , directed by Bhutanese director Tashi Gyeltshen, is set in a remote valley where the slopes are green and the mists roll in, but underneath the beauty and stillness lurks violence. The people too wear masks, figuratively, and the loss of humanity is at the heart of the film.
“In Buddhism, we believe that as soon as a person is born, he or she has the capability to attain enlightenment. But, as we live our lives, we become bad and are hell-bent on destroying ourselves. I wonder why do we do that - what’s the need to kill and rape each other.”
The phallus in the film, Tashi says, symbolises the decadence of humanity, one that is largely owing to a patriarchal society and thought process, and how it is destroying the world.
The #Me Too movement was not what he had in mind, Tashi says. “I wrote the film about four years ago. But after it has come out, everybody is connecting it with #Me Too, but that was not the intention.”
In rural Bhutan, not as much in urban areas, the phallus has cultural and spiritual functions – it is painted on houses, doors, and walls, and wooden phalluses are hung on four corners of a house. A symbol of fertility, they are supposed to ward off evil spirits. But the teenager in the film feels stifled by this symbol of virility that her father crafts in wood and gets her to deliver to neighbours.
The father also plays the role of a clown in local festivals, the clown in Buddhism being someone who helps people attain enlightenment. However, in the film he is a rapist too – a person capable of enlightenment and at the same time of horrendous crime – two extremes existing in the same person.
“I’ve gone to festivals and been blessed by the clowns with phalluses and often wondered who the person behind the mask is and if culture gives them the power to bless one by virtue of playing the role of a clown,” Tashi says
A metaphor
Rape as a metaphor is a problem, but conveys the decadence of man, says Tashi. “It is the same in the world, with everyone wearing masks and it becoming difficult to know what is behind the mask. It is the way we hide our flaws, fragilities, crimes.”
The Red Phallus , which won the FIPRESCI award at the Busan Intrnational Film Festival, has many layers to it. Shame, too, is central to it. The use of wide shots in the film and from the back is deliberate so as to convey that the characters are hiding something. “All the three characters are morally trapped in their own world – they have nowhere to go. As a story-teller, I’m not trying to judge the characters from my moral perspective. The narrative is only an excuse to make the film, it is secondary. I do not want to lose the meaning in the narrative; I manipulate it.”
The film, Tashi says, is a question to himself, to which he does not necessarily have an answer. “I most probably will not get an answer, but at the back of my mind maybe I don’t want an answer, for if I have an answer the question doesn’t exist. For me, to keep on living my life it to ask questions and not have an answer.”
After the IFFK where it is competing in the International Competition segment, The Red Phallus will travel to Pune, but for Tashi it is time for a retreat back in Bhutan to start work on his next film.
