Provoked: Desejo de Liberdade

Hidden, this is the story of control, power and abuse of a woman, like so many women in Asian marriages which has been rife from the late 60's to the 80's. Poorly acted on a low budget. The point is all too clear. This should never happen and yet I have witnessed it myself.

Since it was based on a true story (I remember the case in the media) I really thought that the movie would have been really great. The subject matter had so much potential. Maybe it was the direction of the movie but I did not get the severity of the attacks by the husband to warrant the wife's actions. They also could have delved a little more into both the husband's the wife's character. I'm not really familiar with Aishwarya Rai's work but we've all seen Naveen Andrews in Lost and other works and I know that he is a good actor but I don't think his talents were utilized well. More could have definitely been done with this movie.

Good acting by all. Good storytelling. Battered woman's syndrome is a real thing and this film does a good job in telling that.

A must watch.

The movie is based on a true story which was the first reason i saw this film. Aishwarya Rai has performed well in the role of Kiran.

The story educates one of the atrocities that can happen to a woman and her fight to claim the justice that is initially denied to her cause she was ashamed to discuss the abuse that she suffered.

The movie looks like a low budget movie and the screenplay or the camera-work may not fascinate you. The movie is based on facts and stays true to its original content.

See the movie for its content and the message it wants to convey to the society.

The people behind this movie are the ones who should have been set on fire. It's that bad.

The (they claim it's all true) story of an Asian woman in Britain who set her husband on fire because he treated her badly. She eventually becomes a cause celebre because of the incident.

The movie itself is full of melodrama, from over acting to cheesy music, tear-jerking scenes of women bonding in prison, it's a real soap opera. There isn't anything original here, this was all done during the 80's with the "burning bed" movie. It's so one sided that any Asian male who buys into it is probably sleeping out in the garage, in a locked car, after carefully hiding the gasoline can. There is no attempt at all to be objective, or to point out that setting someone on fire isn't a good solution to your marital difficulties.

The problem here is the message: it's OK to set your spouse on fire if they don't treat you well. Never mind the fact that you could just leave, or turn him in to the police, or a hundred other options. This film would have you believe that it's not only OK to set him on fire, it's your moral obligation and you will be a heroine to women everywhere if you do so.

Even if you think it's a good idea to initiate spontaneous combustion of your spouse, and I grant that there may be some who could benefit from that, this movie isn't realistic at all. I'm not reaching for realism in my entertainment, but when you claim it's a true story - try for some truth. Only die hard haters of the male gender could enjoy this, and possibly not all of those. If you have any objectivity at all you'll finish by hating this movie. If you enjoy decent movies, you'll finish by hating this one. And if you have any regard for the opposite gender whatsoever, you'll hate this movie.