Price To Be Free (2002 film)

Price To Be Free
Directed by	Martin R. Gerry
Produced by	Orthography Films
Music by	H. B. Baw
Running time	165 minutes
Country	Themiclesia
Language	Shinasthana
Budget	$12.5 million
Box office	$82 million

Price To Be Free (Shinasthana: 自由, sbjih-ljiw) is a 2002 Themiclesian romance film directed by Martin R. Gerry, dramatizing the real story of Kaw Drje, a professional soldier, and Sloi Pjeng, a higher-class woman, during the Pan-Septentrion War and their subsequent married life, when Kaw was constantly away and Sloi had to make ends meet independently. As Sloi had died of cancer in 1970, the story is told through Kaw's reflections while himself undergoing chemotherapy for cancer in 1999, discussing his love life with Kaw Sram, his son with Sloi. The film won critical acclaim for its poignant potrayal of family, female independence, and social class and revolution.  

Synopsis

The film opens with Kaw undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer in 1999. Uncertain of his future, he starts to reveal his long-repressed love story to his son, Sram, who evidently had a very different relationship with his mother.

In 1942, as a member of the 242nd Regiment, Kaw was on furlough in Tonning, Themiclesia. Despite being on furlough, he was still required to perform office duty from time to time, which led him to spend some nights at the Garett's (an upscale hotel) drinks bar; there, he met Sloi, who was with a group of other female friends. The film then follows Sloi when Kaw was called back to the front, seeing Sloi's parents discussing potential bachelors with him. The film then reveals the Sloi family to be part of the gentry of Tonning, having produced several prominent individuals active in local circles; however, the family's revenues, derived from leases and a modest machine business, has been ravaged by the war effort.

In 1943, the two had a chance encounter with each other when Sloi sent to see her younger cousin off to the army, when Kaw was manning one of the facilities for itemizing recruits. Sloi's cousin was unwilling to join the forces, when Kaw muttered something (not heard on film) accusatory; Sloi then shushed and told him it is not his place to critcize. Kaw then recognized her from the Garett's bar. Briefly separated, they met each other again at the bar; hesitant to acknowledge each other, Kaw apologized first, and the hotel manager arrived to expel Kaw for being in a drab uniform (dark lounge suit required). Sloi instead told the manager that nobody could tell in the dim lighting and said to Kaw that she did not wish to cause him embarrassment in public.

Sloi then asked for Kaw's address, which he was hesitant to give as it might reveal his modest background. However, Kaw decided to give it anyway, as his accent "must have made it obvious already." The film cuts to the modern time with Sran asking if an address could really review that much about a person, and Kaw replies "yes, and more, if you lived where my parents did; that is why I never introduced you to them." It then returns to late 1943 when the two began to meet privately, when the protagonists first confess love for each other; however, the government then placed the 242th Regiment into the South Expedition Army, which was to deploy to Maverica. Kaw was torn between his military career and love life; Sloi encouraged him to stay with the army, saying she preferred to love a man "who made his own living".

Returning to the modern day, Kaw speculates that Sloi wanted to protect his reputation amongst his friends (all were professional soldiers), lest he be reputed as uxorious to the extent that he gave up on both his career and the idea of fighting a just war for his country. However, he also confesses to Sram that he never dared to ask many questions about his wife's beliefs, since she has "done him more honour than anyone else by marrying him." Sram's son, now a young man, then questions whether she simply wanted to see the back of him. Sram silences him with "decency", but Kaw said that she "could have done that much more easily by leaving him, rather than encourage him to continue his military career." Kaw asks if Sram had any information to offer on that matter, but Sram replied that his mother never revealed anything about her love life. Kaw sighs heavily.

The film then advances to 1946, when Kaw finally returns from Menghe. As the soldiers disembarked from the vessel, Sloi turned out to greet him with a large fur hat, which fit over his military hat completely. A real-life photo of Kaw wearing a different hat, in a sea of soldiers is shown. While Kaw is elated to see Sloi again, after more than three years apart, Sloi eventually she reveals her family's knowledge of, and distaste for, her affections. Her parents were dissatisfied because they imagine Kaw would rob her of her dowry and waste it on gambling, when her family was short on cash. They relay tales of "girls of quality" being mistreated by returning soldiers, "would presumably would be worse in the privacy and bond of matrimony." They exhort Sloi to "marry an officer" if she must marry a soldier of some kind, since "many officers originate from decent standing."

In 1947, the 242nd Regiment was returned to Admiralty jurisdiction, since it was originally the 2nd Regiment of Marines. Sloi was secretly encouraged by this news, since it meant her husband would be shuttling between Menghe and Themiclesia, rather than be stationed and exposed there in the longer term; however, she never expressed this, and Kaw only found out when he mistakenly opened one of her letters. Kaw thinks his wife did not wish to become involved in his career, though "out of what reason" he could not tell. Yet this quiescence did not last, since the Admiralty heavily reformed the Marines following the PSW to make them "fit for more than just sitting on ship-railings." Sram confessed that he overheard her mother "still arguing" with her parents in 1961 to be associated with "this of all units" that nearly neglected regicide in 1940 – 41. She, reportedly, said that "what unit Kaw serves in is his decision, and which husband I love is mine."

Following an altercation with a member of the crew of his ship, the SS ′A (鄔艦), Kaw was momentarily too ashamed to see Sloi, knowing that his offence would only encumber her challenge to convince her parents Kaw was an acceptable husband. He slipped away from garrison to her house, he heard a heated argument between her and her parents. Her mother and father declare that they love her very much and could not allow her to marry into a family of "uncertain means and conduct", even discounting all considerations of social standing. They say she would experience "immense loss" in her own social circles that "matrimony cannot compensate, especially this matching." She rebuked them saying "the old ways will not return," because the government owned much of the "factory and could not withstand the risk of returning it to us just like that." Her parents lamented "the curse of the unlimited government."  

Cutting to 1999, Kaw was impressed with his wife's political acumen, for indeed her family was only given a large quantity of shares in the factory that expanded almost ten times during the war, and the Conservative government collapsed in exactly a scandal like that in 1952. Her family relented in 1949, but Kaw's family offered an extremely small pr′ingh payment, which enraged Kaw; to it he added much of his savings to produce €800 (which was sufficient purchase a decent car). Sloi's parents were apparently persuaded by Kaw's fronting a surprising sum of money, which assuaged some fears of an abusive or irresponsible husband. Mrs. Sloi met Kaw personally and told him that she will be loved as much as she is now, and that he must be "willing to weather their impositions in the future, as now," if he is to marry Sloi.

They married in May 1949 in a ceremony attended by almost nobody. The Sloi family would not hire a notary public for fear of associating their name with this partly-scandalous marriage, while Kaw had no money left to hire a reputable one. As a substitute, Kaw invited the regimental solicitor to witness the ceremony on the promise of a "large slice of the cake", which they were able to offer with so many declined invitations. Returning to 1999, Kaw said this was "the only time the Marine Corps ever did anything for me, and only on the promise of a large slice of the cake."

In the 50s, Kaw was again away on the Admiralty's campaign. During this time, he encountered some chatter amongst the married men in his unit, about their wives' lives at home. The scene returning to 1999, Kaw told Sram that some of the men frequently sent telegrams home to see if their wives had remained faithful to them. Kaw never sent such a telegraph, but therefor he was regarded as a wimp by his comrades. The camera panning to a portrait of his wife, Kaw is heard saying that "a marriage is never perfect." Returning home in 1955, this question haunted him until he finally gave in to the urge to out it. Instead of answering, Sloi asked why should they question him, since he knows "as much as they do." Kaw recounts that he was frustrated with his peers' questions, and Sloi replied that "if they really wanted to find out, they should question her directly, rather than grill Kaw over it." Kaw replied that he wanted to defend Sloi's reputation, but Sloi retorted that her reputation is hers to defend, not Kaw's.

"Give me their addresses, and I shall set them straight," the film portrays her calmly saying, "I shall write them, and should that effect nothing, I shall write their parents about their nosing around in others' business and to the Opposition and international feminist presses about impugning an innocent and defenceless man risking life and limb for national defence." Kaw said that would be excessive and said, "I am not 'innocent and defenceless'," then swiftly redacted himself to be "innocent but not defenceless." However, Sloi then pointed out that he is defenceless, because "accusations of this kind can be levelled at any man simply because he does not keep his wife on a leash. To test a man's reputation via his spouse's conduct is to oblige him to muster a defence that, at best, causes domestic and personal unfreedom and strife, and this defence he has no obligation to muster."

"It was on that day in 1955 that I realized how strong my wife was, even though I always thought, being a soldier, I was the stronger between my wife and myself," Kaw said to Sram while bedridden. "I thought I was under her protection as far as this affair was concerned, and her reasoning gave me an immense degree of security. But that is not to say everything she says I agree with." The film then cuts to a scene where Sloi, on the telephone, termed Kaw's comrades "good-for-nothing" and "leeches on social benefit", commenting on the 1957 expansion of education and discharge assistance payments.  

Reception

Many Themiclesian critics consider Price To Be Free the best domestic romance film of 2002, positively reviewing its sedate pace and limited-yet-artful point-of-view. As the story is told by a timid and introverted protagonist, frequently away during the recollections and possibly-moribund at present time, "the audience is throughout prompted to engage with the protagonist's mindset and reasoning, to find out what he missed and critique his imperfections." Many consider the protagonist an unreliable narrator and that this unreliability captures the very spirit of a stratified and stigmatic Themiclesian society, where opinions are formed according to partial information and ulterior motives.

C. R. Mjang, editor-in-chief of the Film Review, a leading publication in cinematic art, writes,

The flashback-protagonist is unreasonable, bumbling, and generally sees the world according to a perspective that would seem contradictory and alien to a modern audience; however, his seemingly-fairytale pursuit of love, which endears all of us to him, is tainted by his confession that he may have tried to scale the social ladder. The present-protagonist is pensive, confused, and desperate to find closure. He repeats in a refrain how his wife debased her own social standing to marry him, and we are never told how real or strong this component is. Likely the protagonist does not know either.

The audience is never told (whether by spoken lines or scenes acted out) anything about the protagonist's love, Sloi, except what he actually learned. On the one hand, this reflects very accurately how lower-class people generally do not pry on what their superiors do. The protagonist is a life-long believer in social hierarchy, and his wife is permanently some ranks above him, which indebts him to her. This hesitation to ask and speak, amplified by that emotional and social debt, drives the plotline forward in many instances.

Conversely, while Sloi is the heroine to marry Kaw despite her parents and concomitant losses, her worldview is similarly class-oriented. She calls Kaw's fellow marines "people of this kind" and even "vile, lowly" (born out of wedlock or not of respectable families) in a thoroughly contemptuous tone and takes great pleasure doing so, yet defends her husband and his preferences that cannot be uncoupled with the very military culture, warts and all, that she despises. She educates her husband, verbatim, to deflect his peers' snide comments, showing protectiveness and dominance not only in this relationship, but against those she believes are violating her dignity and liberties. It almost seems like she believes it is a privilege of class to violate class.

While romance certainly transgressed the boundaries of class, both characters constantly interact emotionally with class. On that account, far from being abolished and vanquished, class is the theme and driving force of this film. As for the title, Price To Be Free, we think the film is telling us that there is nothing such as perfect love; something is always testing the strength of the relationship, but true love can exist even in adversity that cannot be overcome.

While most films involving the Marines these days involve at least some blood, the forces exist here only as a background influence. The second and only other soldier that appears has a single scene, where he eats a large slice of the wedding cake. Kaw is away from his home for much of 1942 – 57, so this time is totally off-camera as he cannot interact with Sloi. While other marines certainly exist in-world, they are never named or even referred to as such; Kaw refers to them as "my colleages" or "they" (similarly, Sloi's parents are never more than "Father" and "Mother"). We note the conspicuously-missing Marine Corps logo at the end of the film that appears on most that depict their servicepersons. Down with The Man?

See also

• Themiclesia