Review by Alyssa Caruso

Courtesy of Sitasingstheblues.com

Two women in different parts of the world — where there are different customs and beliefs — are put in similar situations with their loved ones. Sita Sings the Blues is a cartoon film that follows Sita, from an Indian Sanskrit epic, and Nina Paley, a film director from San Francisco, while they deal with their relationship problems.

Although these women live two completely different lives, director Nina Paley is able to show over the course of the film how they are similar and depicts it in a lighthearted fashion. The character Sita is constantly trying to win over Prince Rama, who continues to turn her down because he thinks she is not pure. Across seas, Nina is rejected by her boyfriend when he gets a job in India and moves on with his life.

The film illustrates that both women refuse to let go of their men even though they treat them poorly. For instance, after Nina goes all the way to India to be with her boyfriend, he tells her not to come back. Although Sita waits patiently for Rama after being captured and taken away, he saves her but doesn’t want her to be his wife anymore because she was in another man’s house.

What makes the film unique are the characters, such as Sita singing beautiful blues songs throughout the course of the film. The songs relates to what both women are going through at the moment in the plot. While the plot is interesting, and it’s fun to see how the characters go through similar situations, the simplified cartoon element gives the film a carefree feel that doesn’t really match what’s happening. While in theory this could have been a great film, it would have been clearer if we saw real people instead of cartoon characters.

VOX rating: VV

THE RATING SYSTEM

VVVVV = AWESOME! SEE IT TWICE
VVVV = DEFINITELY GO SEE IT
VVV = HMM… IT’S OKAY
VV = EH… DVD MAYBE?
V = DON’T BOTHER