■ Title — Sita Sings the Blues
■ Director — Nina Paley
■ Cast — Annette Hanshaw, Aseem Chhabra, Bhavana Nagulapally
■ ©2008
■ Unrated, suitable for general audiences
■ 1h 22min
■ Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
■ Watch it at Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/Sita_Sings_the_Blues/Sita_Sings_the_Blues.ogv
Based on the “Ramayana,” a Sanskrit epic from roughly 500BC, this animated feature is as close to the work of one person as possible. Writer/director/animator Nina Paley starts with the classic tale of Sita, a long-suffering woman in a world where men deny much to her, demand much of her, and take much from her. The heroine remains resilient and hopeful even as she occasionally sings about how she’d like things to be a bit better. Interspersed with this story are scenes from modern times based on Paley’s own experiences, and the visuals – animated in a variety of styles – are accompanied by songs from the 1920s. The narrative is clear, the conflicts well defined, and the visuals wildly imaginative. The result is a dazzling and easy-to-follow adventure despite the many characters and locations. If ever a film could be called Oddball Required Viewing, this is it!
This movie has been placed in the public domain by the writer/director/animator (some copyright restrictions remain on the songs, which she did not write). For information about the production, see the website: https://www.sitasingstheblues.com
