In its eagerness to embrace positivity, Wonder Women sidesteps conflicts and intersectionality. Gracy, who speaks broken English, is heavily cash-strapped and overworked, yet when Govind Vasantha’s saccharine songs begin to play, she has to act like a joyous group member, dance and giggle, as though pregnancy brings her the same joy as others. Happy and carefree women are a delight to watch on screen. But here, instead of engaging with these characters further, Anjali shrinks her film to a one-note image and drowns promising ideas in sentimentality.
Despite this smallness, Wonder Women is a critical work that brings to the screen visuals of these women who aren’t changing the world or undergoing a great feminist upheaval but just being in the present, taking note of their bodily changes and looking out for each other. If only these women were allowed to tell their stories.
