I am unfortunately unable to comment at great lengths for this audio piece but it did leave me with some fresh thoughts. The power of a film has been theoretically explained as 49% visual, 51% audio. I guess, this is why even though this was supposedly the `switch-off’ point of the evening, fragments of what was spoken remained in my mind. `Away From Home' is an interview with an Indonesian maid about her life and working life in Singapore. Given that she is a domestic helper, her life would be inevitably intertwined with work life. Hence, many issues surface on personal freedom and the infringement of it.
While the issues were familiar, it was the issues of sexual fulfillment that stood out to me. For once, I allowed myself to sit down and listen to what sex meant to these people whose sexuality is often played down in the guise of ill-fitting, drab T-shirts and shorts as we often see them in. And it saddened me more to know on one hand, enjoying these basic aspects of life needs to go through stringent approval from employers (predictably, a female voice in the docu), and on the other, even when they have had `it', it is a transient, temporary respite. Sundays end and Monday will start all over again.
While the issues were familiar, it was the issues of sexual fulfillment that stood out to me. For once, I allowed myself to sit down and listen to what sex meant to these people whose sexuality is often played down in the guise of ill-fitting, drab T-shirts and shorts as we often see them in. And it saddened me more to know on one hand, enjoying these basic aspects of life needs to go through stringent approval from employers (predictably, a female voice in the docu), and on the other, even when they have had `it', it is a transient, temporary respite. Sundays end and Monday will start all over again.