The story of a young girl in a refugee camp struggling with her period, Ghazaal offers a powerful depiction of the lack of basic dignity in such camps. The 14 minute short film follows Ghazaal, as she attempts to get sanitary protection and deal with the pain of cramps, but also tackles general life in a refugee camp.
The normality with which the children in the film act towards dehumanising activities, such as queuing daily for food like animals at a trough is, particularly affecting. However, it is in an ensemble scene where Ghazaal is attempting to sell her stolen socks to a group of children that the skilled direction of the child actors particularly shines.
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Ghazaal’s desperation leads her to sell her books, and with them the privilege of reading and entertainment, to her fellow refugees in order to buy sanitary protection. Giving up material connection to childhood for the sanitary pads needed by the adult she is growing to be.
The children are not portrayed as victims, they are survivors of an awful situation. And while the film does not shy away from depicting the poverty and terrible living conditions that they endure, it also grants the characters the autonomy to deal with their pain.
Before beginning filming, director Ragini Bhasin volunteered in the Moira refugee camp to gain a greater understanding of the subject matter and, following this experience, decided to alter her script to ensure that characters were not not portrayed as passive victims. This is undoubtedly the reason for such a sensitive portrayal of child refugees.
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The film uses a quasi-documentary style to create a hyper realistic image of this situation, allowing more direct access to the characters and their experiences. This style only changes towards the end of the film when, following an arduous journey to a volunteer run shop to steal some sanitary pads, Ghazaal’s menstrual pains increase to the point that she can no longer carry on with her day. The camera flickers as she throws herself down in a ditch, defeated by her pain and the screen cuts to black.
Although Ghazaal director Ragini Bhasin made the film with the aim of tackling the taboo around menstruation, the choice to set the film in a refugee camp adds the additional exploration of the experience of those living in camps, which often seems like the central focus. Against the backdrop of the political commentary on the migrant crisis, the exploration and depiction of the taboo of menstruation becomes almost secondary, simply another hurdle Ghazaal is faced with in her daily struggle, just as she schemes to jump the queue for food. All of these things, demeaning and horrifying for anyone, are particularly distressing when seen as part of the everyday reality for someone we would consider still a child.
