“Bread and Roses”: Jennifer Lawrence’s human rights documentary is and makes you angry – and rightly so

The lives of the protagonists in “Bread and Roses” change in one fell swoop: When the Taliban take over Kabul on August 15, 2021, they cannot fly and actively decide to resist when they are forbidden to work and live freely . Despite threats of imprisonment, they meet in public and demand “work, bread, education”. They see it as their duty to demonstrate and demand rights for women who are already in prison. Zahra, Sharifa and Taranom are perhaps the bravest leading actresses that the 2024 film year has seen so far.

The activists film themselves because they are afraid that they could suddenly disappear, that they could kidnap or murder someone. Because human rights and women are now being trampled on in Afghanistan: women who are not mothers or virgins are worthless in the eyes of the Taliban – just like human rights, which all people should be entitled to.

The women in the documentary know that the world is looking rather passively at Afghanistan and the rule of the Taliban: “No one can help us,” they say in a video message. And yet they pick themselves up every day, even though they are “just tired from all that crying.” However, “Bread and Roses” and none of its main characters accuse the outside world; What is missing is listed quite soberly: the girls who played in colorful dresses. Where are these girls today? Since the Taliban came to power, these girls no longer go to school, no longer play outside – and have to wear black.

That’s why the documentary is called “Bread and Roses”

The American trade unionist Rose Schneiderman first spoke of “Bread and Roses” in 1911. They said: “The worker needs bread, but she also needs roses”, also something like “A worker needs bread, but she also needs roses”.

This is exactly what women in Massachusetts demanded during the “Bread and Roses Strike” in 1912: They not only demanded fair wages (bread), but also a humane working and living environment (roses). With their protest, the workers are pushing through a 25 percent wage increase.

That’s why “Bread and Roses” is so important – for all of us

Anyone who thinks that Zahra, Sharifa, Taranom and all the other activists in Afghanistan are demanding western conditions and freedom of movement is wrong: they are used to life under Sharia law, they know no other life than that of strict separation between men and women that dictates their religion. But women in Afghanistan already had rights, even if this is seen too rarely: For example, they fought for the right to vote in the same year as their fellow campaigners in Germany: they have been allowed to vote since 1918. The Taliban took away this basic right again in 2021 – just like so much more: in the country in the Hindu Kush, women are no longer even allowed to leave the house alone, and are not allowed to sing, laugh or dance.

Despite everything, the three women love their homeland: Not all of them wanted to fly from Kabul because friends, family, simply their lives had been there until now. It is the eternal crux between the freedom of an individual and that of a group of like-minded people that women have to deal with every day. This year’s “Women of the Year” winner Düzen Tekkal said in an interview with GLAMOR that her fight for the freedom of others threatens her personal freedom. And that is exactly the everyday life of Zahra, Sharifa and Taranom in “Bread and Roses”, who find that they have to hide themselves because they have demanded justice and freedom for others. How far do you go to free others without putting yourself in prison? It’s also not about fundamentally changing your own country or aligning it with Western standards. It’s about human rights and freedom, it’s about relating to the world and participating in life.