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.

The people exclaiming this was somehow about more than just the right to have bare breasts in public - where exactly was that in the plot? You, like the movie, are romanticizing and over thinking very petty things.

I think it's a great cause - women should definitely be allowed to walk around topless in any state of this nation. However, to say that they were somehow pushing for some grander agenda that went as far as being called a revolution? Come on. Their agenda didn't even register as a microscopic piece of dust on the radar of "revolution".

There wasn't much of a plot to this story, other than "let's get super insanely cool looking shots, mostly in slow-mo, of us girls looking insanely cool and counter-culture like", to that end, they did that in spades, and is the only reason I gave this film one more star than 1.

There is a tiny love story between the two protagonists, which never exactly reaches an arc, and is just forgotten about by the end of the film - there were too many shots of women looking empowered and cool in slow motion to be had, I guess.

The whole film is just a self indulgent "look how cool/edgy I am" montage, with barely any kind of a story behind it. Three of the main characters you sort of connect with, and the rest are almost non-existent.

The funniest part about the whole story, is that they never even achieved any of their goals, but the ending ends like they indeed created some sort of cultural revolution. No, you just wasted a bunch of money that was invested in you, by spray painting and stickering public property. No legislation was changed, no social movement started to gain momentum. If I had invested money in those girls, I would be pretty angry - just like whoever invested money in this worthless film.

"Scientists now believe that the primary biological function of breasts is to make males stupid." Dave Berry

Fighting for freedom of speech is good anytime, and fighting for the right of women to bare their breasts in public as men can do is a pleasant part of that. Make that a comedy, as in Free the Nipple, and you get a sophomoric study in youthful idealism without the SNL wit.

Nipple is hardly serious when compared with other issues like abortion or equal pay. Based on true events, Free the Nipple humorously depicts the mass movement of topless women coming to NYC with the usual movement tropes and not an impressive screenplay.

It's as if the smartest, most beautiful girls in senior class adopted a project that gave them a chance to have a jolly Glee-like production without the singing. The high-pitched voices, attention from males, and clueless but sincere strategizing seem all too pat while the cause itself is flimsy.

After all, most of the time I felt the police busted them for disturbing the peace and not for baring breasts, which is legal in NYC. Nowhere in the film is there a cogent description of what they were doing or what they hoped to achieve. Still, it's an amusing attempt to balance the books, or breasts, with men.

"It's my body. And I like my body. And I like my breasts. And no, they're not fake." Lindsey Lohan

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.

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.