Cinemashrink Asks - What new feminine hero glimmers in the shadows of international filmmaking? Forget about the victim movies. Let's take a look at the films bringing an empowered image of a multi-cultural female sensibility, prowess and purpose into play in the world. Definitely more than an action figure, a feminine hero does everything a hero was ever meant to do and does it with her eye on what furthers and excites regeneration, rejuvenation and redemption. She's good, she's bad, she takes sides, she doesn't, she holds her ground, she yields, she entices, she looks away, she knows what she knows - and she wants you to know what you know as well. That's it. There may be another world out there somewhere but, for the moment, life is here to be lived as fully as humanly possible - and it's not always pretty. So new skills, new values and new visions are in order. Here are a few glimpses of a new feminine hero archetype emerging in well-liked films featuring women protagonists who come from around the world." Reviews by Jane Alexander Stewart, Ph.D. CinemaShrink Says - "No one expects 'The Divine One' to come as a girl. Whale Rider could well be the Lion King for girls. It's a lot more than cute, a far cry from the usual victimizing, sacrificing and idealizing of children who come female instead of male into this harsh world. Whale Rider makes the spiritual practical. It celebrates the power of an enlightened girl's heart to change old ways of elders who have good intentions but an accumulation of far too much fear." (New Zealand/Maori) CinemaShrink Says - "In Bend It Like Beckham, a young East Indian woman living in London not only breaks with the traditions of her family to become a successful soccer player, she rescues her father's dream, makes her mother proud and opens up new possibilities for her friends, family and culture against all odds." (UK/India) CinemaShrink Says - "If you didn't get to see The Secret Ballot, be sure to rent this inspirational film about what a difference one very small and very ordinary woman can make. An Iranian woman makes her way around an isolated island collecting votes from people who never thought about voting, who view her carrying around a cardboard ballot box as an inappropriate activity for a female -- and who get won over to her cause by her sheer persistence, her belief in herself and her caring. Awesome." (Iran) CinemaShrink Says - "There's so much of the feminine in Dirty Pretty Things that it goes beyond a single protagonist. The presence of the feminine floats like a good fairy throughout, sprinkling magic dust on the ugliest side of human beings, the seamiest side of London. Somehow - and never has 'somehow' held so much promise - hope emerges from a mean game of chess played by ordinary people against a dominant predatory evil. A young woman inspires a man to some fine moves of compassion, intelligence and impeccable ethics to checkmate greed, small mindedness and arrogant indifference." (UK) CinemaShrink Says - "Amelie, sprite incarnate? This may be an 'everywoman's' film. In 'everywoman' lives a small girl who looks on the bright side of a sorely lacking childhood, dreams of rescuing a depressed father and, in real life, sets clue after clue for a boyfriend to find her. She makes new meaning out of lost, spiking bleak situations with an instinctive ingenuity." (France) CinemaShrink Says - "Lola chases after the fraction of a second that changes destiny in Run Lola Run. She may not be faster than a racing bullet but she is so swift that she can reshape time, flip it back on itself and rewind the story until she gets it right. Sounds like a new skill to me. She's pals with lady luck, gives dad an awful shock, gets the guy - and, and - she walks away with a big bag of money!" (Germany) CinemaShrink Says - "Colorful, smart and looking right through you with each of her world class paintings and a life to match, Fridademands respect. Sometimes she gets it. Sometimes she doesn't. But in every instance, she digs deep for a personal, individual and grand emotional response that defines her humanity -- and never apologizes. Frida Kahlo - real woman, artist and cinematic phenomenon - commands respect. And while this film comes from the United States, its protagonist is thoroughly Mexican." (USA/Mexico) CinemaShrink Says - "Almodovar sticks it in your ear with Talk to Her and makes a fine point. Perhaps it's not so unusual that two women - even if they're in a coma - should provoke a friendship between men. Neither man ever 'talks to her' but they do begin to talk to each other. Two men locked into silence, shame and a questioning adherence to traditions of what it means to be a real man, come together when they find themselves both loving endangered women. It's that feminine hero in the closet at work again." (Spain) CinemaShrink Says - "It's rare enough to see a woman in a mid-life crisis portrayed in film, even more rare to see her solve her dilemma by diving deep into her inner world and coming up with a solution that works in the outer world. In Swimming Pool, a crime fiction writer turns her considerable visionary skills to killing off a depression, a fake lover, an old self, a dead end career -- and coming up a winner." (France) CinemaShrink Says - "Y Tu Mama Tambien challenges the mores of Latino machismo, opening eyes to a different kind of love and lust. It turns endings - end of adolescence, end of innocence and end of a life - into something fun and profound. Two young studs get more than they bargain for when they invite a slightly older young woman along on a joy ride to a hidden beach for the weekend. They find themselves lit by fiery passion and sobered by her touch. She's the sea that binds forever, flows everlasting and contains all secrets. Well, of course, she's a girl." (Mexico) CinemaShrink Says - "Australian Aborigine are famous for their dreamtime walkabouts, hundred mile treks in the outback without any destination but home. So, when three young Aborigine girls rebel against the idiocy of a British plan to ethnically cleanse them by taking them away from their families and sequestering them in a boarding school, they simply walk away. They follow a Rabbit Proof Fence, defying rules meant to separate them from their rightful destiny. It doesn't spoil the thrill of following their escape to know they live to be lovely old - very old - women." (Australia) CinemaShrink Says - "On the cutting edge, Oasis features a highly unlikely romantic lead, an isolated young woman twisted with cerebral palsy, who inspires a man who lacks common sense or book smarts to the kind of love that heals a family. If you ever wondered what real love looks like, this film reverses every cliché. It's not the pretty pictures but the depth of character that matters. (South Korea)