REVIEW - THE PUNK SINGER (SINI ANDERSON)

A portrait of one woman, and thus of one whole movement - a movement for reason, for fairness, for equality. In its final scenes, this documentary biopic of Kathleen Hanna takes a sombre turn, one which ostensibly diverts its focus away from its central concern of feminism. Sini Anderson's film operates as a clarion call to women of the world, and as a document of the feminist movement of the early 1990s, so how can she justify abandoning this tenet to hone in instead on Hanna's struggle with her health? It's an unavoidable flaw in The Punk Singer's core concept, though not a debilitating one. Since all of Hanna's exploits can (and ought to, given her cultural and political significance) be interpreted as both reason for the movement she helped establish and reaction to the misogyny that made such a movement necessary (and still does), her recent sickness hits both herself and ourselves as a sucker punch to that fight for reason, fairness and equality. Even as its content becomes more melancholy in nature, Anderson's film maintains its animation, a sharp and vivid examination / fanzine of its own throughout. In refusing to capitulate to the sense of futility and depression that could so swiftly and simply be gleaned from this story, Anderson creates a film whose narrative insularity is actually only beneficial to the film, not least due to how fascinating Kathleen Hanna's life has been to date. The Punk Singer is an inspiration film, with a terrific, uplifting soundtrack, of enormous relevance and significance in relating Hanna's story in requisite accuracy and in the proper spirit. It may not, as a film, operate on the top echelon of artistry - its third act lull ensures that - but its ambitions lie elsewhere. What Sini Anderson wants to do is to pay tribute, and, in so doing, to rouse the young Kathleen Hannas of today.