Free the Nipple

This low budget production is based on a true story. It was produced by, directed by, and written by Lina Esco. The story is about activism in New York City to establish the right of women to show their breasts in public. The courts already said that women have that right, but local police still harassed women who go topless.

By the end of the film, the cause is broadened to emphasize all censorship, including film censorship. This is how it should be, as the display of female anatomy is part of the larger issue of self-expression and the libertarian viewpoint that we all have the right to act however we wish as long as we are not hurting another. As the film rightfully points out, religions play a central role in the creation of taboos and the exercise of censorship.

But the best part of the film is Lina Esco, whose presence as the central character of this film has an energy that reminds me of Angelina Jolie or Katie Holmes.

I did find it confusing that the film sometimes pixelates the topless women. Obviously, this was done for artistic reasons, because the film does not shy from the display of nudity, per its purpose. But this is a minor confusion; it does not dampen the film's enthusiasm for its cause.

On its own merit, this isn't a badly made docudrama at all, it does all the necessary things from a technical and substantive view. My rating reflects more about the message( or lack thereof) than the actual film itself. It seems to me, that eventually more and more states will not arrest a woman for exposure in public without any activism, so the real goal is to expedite the timeline of acceptance. I happen to think when its right for society it will be right for society. If it were legal in public NOW, in the states it currently is NOT, I don't see that making any measurable difference. Enabling doesn't always proffer a willingness to engage in something someone was hesitant to do to begin with. Legalizing pot has not increased the number of its users, and those users would not police themselves for reasons of shyness, embarrassment, ridicule, added attention, or fear of being objectified, or sexually harassed or encroached upon, like a woman most-likely would in vacillating over her decision to bare her breasts in public. My point being, net-net, what would change? How many women get arrested for exposure each year? Do they serve time? Isn't it just a misdemeanor? Are the arrests made primarily over the rights of the child being violated? What about public breast feeding? It was unclear to me if this film was really about censorship or about equality, as it doesn't really address the double-standard in published and licensed media. At the time of this review, their website was down, and they have around 75,000 followers on facebook. The bottom line, at least for me, is that its really not much of a cause, even though I agree with it. If its so important to take your top off in public, then simply move to a state where its legal.

The movie started out well with the opening sequence then the film dragged. There were a couple filler scenes I fast forward through.

The movie should have been a documentary not a docudrama. A documentary would have been more in-depth and we would have gotten to know the activist behind the free the nipple movement. The activist are ten times more interesting then the characters in the film.

It would have been nice to see the film focus on how woman are body shamed and at the same time sexualized.

I give the film a C for effort.

Having watched this film purely out of curiosity towards the movement it really has swayed me to believe in it. It is not just about giving women the opportunity to walk around the streets topless just as many men do freely in the summer months, in fact it's hardly about that at all. It's about societies approach to female nudity and how we are censored from birth, forced into a mindset that sees nudity as obscene and something that should be avoided at all cost. It is the basis by which women and men are seen as completely different and therefore treated completely different. Woman have nipples, men have nipples, yet just because women have a little more behind theirs they must cover them up? When you really think about it, it's so clearly wrong.

The film was an interesting look at the approach of activists and, although clearly made on a budget, it gives a small insight into the amount that some people sacrifice in order to get a few others to think about something for just a few seconds in the hopes of evolving the way our society works.

To be fair I turned this movie off almost at once. If you want to make a film about women's rights to be legally equal to men, and you title your film after a political movement to show breasts are not offensive, sexual or shameful you don't blur out the women's breasts. By doing so you are sending the exact opposite message. By blurring out the breasts this film is saying that they should stay covered because it might offend someone.

This film is a waste of time and money. It works in direct opposition to women's rights.

If you want to make a film like this you must have the courage to actually free the nipple. Otherwise, don't bother.