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DOCPOINT 2022

Review: It’s Raining Women

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- Mari Soppela’s predictable doc may not deliver on the visual front, but it does get its point across: it’s time to smash the hell out of that glass ceiling

Review: It’s Raining Women

If there is one thing that immediately lets any documentary down, no matter the subject, it’s the constant voice-over of the director, mentioning numbers, setting up scenes or even – gulp – explaining what is happening in front of the camera. Some think it adds that “personal touch”, with the filmmaker no longer relegated to being just an observer. Others opine that it makes viewers feel dumber than Harry and Lloyd. Either way, it’s annoying.

In It’s Raining Women [+see also:
trailer
film profile
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– shown in the National Competition of Finland’s DocPoint (31 January-6 February), following the festival’s move online – director Mari Soppela can’t help herself either. Hearing her voice makes it hard to get into the story at first – it feels like a lecture, not a film. Luckily, as she goes around exploring the murky waters of the glass ceiling, things do pick up after a while. And even though she also decides to ask random people on the street about the meaning of the term – yet another idea used way too often, alongside obligatory shots of Hillary Clinton – this time it almost pays off. They just don’t have a clue, most of them at least, and way too many young women brush it all off, smiling and “I don’t know”-ing their way out of the conversation. Once again, just like in the case of sexual harassment or abuse, you clearly don’t know how it feels “Til It Happens to You”, to quote Lady Gaga.

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Soppela might not be hitting the originality jackpot with this one, but that’s probably not her intention anyway. It’s a film that seems designed for the small screen or to be used for educational purposes, so there is no point in debating its cinematic qualities. It does, however, cover a lot of ground, from workplace discrimination and race to paid paternity leave, the COVID-related “she-cession” and, we kid you not, the situation of Polish truck drivers.

Following one woman’s draining trial and talking to such recognisable figures as former president of Finland Tarja Halonen or civil rights activist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Soppela listens and agrees with the ladies. Because, frankly, none of this makes any sense. If, as it is said here, men and women pay the same amount of money for a cup of coffee, why on Earth would their salaries vary? The cries, the frustration – it’s all understandable, and having your subordinates awkwardly explain to clients that you are their boss, not their secretary, is bound to sting. Others go even further, comparing such inequality to hate crime: “We are ruined financially and mentally by it.” Which is why seeing these young women, repeating they still “don’t know” what the glass ceiling is, is so damned scary.

Some things are changing, slowly, and Soppela clearly wants to inspire, not to depress. After all, she named her film after that triumphant song by The Weather Girls, kind of. But it’s hard to avoid feeling a bit deflated after this film. After all, almost everyone has experienced it, in one way or another – film journalists included. How does it feel when a male colleague admits he has been paid more for the exact same job, and for a long time? It doesn’t feel great, that’s for sure.

It’s Raining Women was produced by the director for Finland’s LPMA Productions.

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