The Oscar-nominated brief movie Pink, White, and Blue is a gut-wrenching, up-close have a look at the brutal penalties ladies are going through because of the statewide abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Its 23-minute runtime tells the tragic story of Rachel (Brittany Snow), a single mom struggling paycheck to paycheck whereas supporting two youngsters, as she travels out of state searching for an abortion. Dealing with monetary obstacles, busy clinics, and a ticking clock, Rachel should endure an more and more precarious journey to terminate an sudden being pregnant earlier than it is too late.
Regardless of the movie’s brevity, it packs a punch as its author and director Nazrin Choudhury expertly tackles the polarizing political situation of reproductive freedom. Though a fictionalized story, its poignant relevancy mirrors the cruel, on a regular basis actuality of 1000’s of ladies dwelling within the conservative states which are passing abortion bans into regulation. Because the 2024 Presidential Election places ladies’s proper to bodily autonomy on the poll, Pink, White, and Blue‘s message, conveyed by way of empathetic storytelling, feminine solidarity, and a twist ending, is evident: a vote for girls is the one vote to make.
What Is Pink, White, and Blue About?
Pink, White, and Blue‘s protagonist is Rachel, a single dad or mum to a younger daughter Maddy (Juliet Donenfeld) and son Jake (Redding Munsell) attempting to make ends meet in Arkansas. Barely surviving off of a low-paying diner job ready tables, a constructive being pregnant check threatens an unsustainable dwelling scenario. Taking issues into her personal fingers, Rachel begins researching the closest out there abortion clinics and anticipated process/journey prices.
With Arkansas’ lately instated no-exception abortion ban, she faces an almost 16-hour round-trip drive to Illinois to obtain the care she wants. After gathering all of her emergency funds (even breaking open her youngsters’s piggy financial institution), Rachel nonetheless can’t afford to go on her personal and should determine tips on how to overcome her inconceivable circumstances earlier than the being pregnant will get too far alongside.
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The Empathetic Storytelling of Pink, White, and Blue
The opening scene of Pink, White, and Blue instantly throws viewers into Rachel’s sneakers. The movie begins with a close-up shot of a constructive being pregnant check earlier than panning out to indicate who’s holding it: a drained, stressed-out Brittany Snow in a waitress uniform. Choudhury straight introduces the character and the issue to the viewers: a poor, working-class lady finds out she’s pregnant and should resolve how she is going to proceed.
Because the movie continues, the story additional reveals Rachel’s socio-economic place by way of a day in her life. She’s a single mom who does not appear to have any household to depend on for assist together with her two youngsters. The three of them stay in a one-bedroom residence the place the youngsters share a room and Rachel sleeps on the pull-out sofa within the frequent space. When Maddy asks if they’ll attend a pancake breakfast, Rachel tells her that they’ll solely afford the diner’s meals (she will get it totally free). Barely surviving financially whereas elevating the youngsters she already has, the movie builds compassion for Rachel’s scenario and necessitates her resolution to hunt an abortion.
But it surely does not cease there. As Rachel begins to dive into the logistics of searching for an abortion in a state that bans them fully with out even permitting exceptions for rape or incest, the necessity for cash, time, and resolve to journey out of state for the process is overwhelmingly palpable. Together with understanding her troublesome circumstances and selection, audiences can clearly see by way of the dishonest rhetoric that abortions are immoral birth-control alternate options that ladies have willy-nilly. As an alternative, they’re proven the fact of its prices (monetary, psychological, and bodily) in addition to the nuance behind the choice. Rachel isn’t a foul or reckless individual. She’s simply attempting to make one of the best resolution for herself and her household.
Emphasizing the Want for Feminine Solidarity
Wanting on the constructive being pregnant check at work, Rachel notices a feminine buyer glancing at it whereas on her approach to the toilet. She hides the check shortly and the shopper walks away and not using a phrase. Initially, this appears to carry focus to how alone Rachel is in her being pregnant — a single mom with out anybody to show to or speak in confidence to. After going again to the ground the place she refills buyer coffees, a male buyer gropes her bottom whereas passing him. Regardless of a co-worker watching this assault occur, he shrugs at her in response and carries on with work. Rachel isn’t solely alone in her being pregnant, her familial duties, and her monetary struggles, but in addition, finally, as a girl in a person’s world.
Resilient, Rachel makes an attempt to determine the whole lot out on her personal and hopes to make an additional $50 every week in ideas for the subsequent month with a view to afford the abortion. Nevertheless, the longer she waits, the much less time she has earlier than she should carry to time period. Miraculously, the feminine buyer who noticed her constructive check comes again to the diner and asks how a lot she must get it taken care of. Regardless of Rachel’s protests, the girl leaves an envelope of money on the desk for her earlier than leaving.
As a viewer, the shopper’s motivations aren’t addressed. Did she have an identical expertise up to now and needed to assist? Is she only a caring stranger who had the means? Ultimately, it does not matter. The purpose of her generosity is to focus on how mandatory it’s for girls to help different ladies’s proper to decide on, particularly throughout a time in the USA when reproductive rights are being stripped away and girls are dying because of this.
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A Tragic Twist Ending
Capable of finding childcare for Jake however not for Maddy, the mother-daughter duo head on a street journey collectively to an Illinois abortion clinic. Alongside the way in which, Rachel does her greatest to make it extra enjoyable for Maddy — enjoying their favourite songs, and stopping at a small carnival for a fast carousel journey and cotton sweet snack. As time passes, the 2 arrive at their vacation spot. Leaving Maddy to relaxation within the ready room, Rachel approaches the entrance desk. Met with an overworked receptionist and with out an appointment, viewers’ concern grows but once more. After getting the cash, driving all that method, and needing to get residence to Jake shortly, Rachel might not even be capable to get an abortion anyway. The waitlist, crammed to the brim with sufferers from Arkansas, is lengthy.
And not using a selection, Rachel provides her title to the record. Nevertheless, when giving her date of beginning, she says the 12 months 2013. At this second, the receptionist (and the viewers) have a look at Rachel in devastation as they uncover the reality: the abortion is for her 13-year-old daughter Maddy. Flashbacks to the night time Maddy was raped flood the display, displaying the sickening actuality that many pro-life insurance policies callously ignore — abortion rights save children as a lot as they save ladies.
Rachel should not be caught with one other baby she will be able to’t afford; Maddy should not have to hold the newborn of the person who sexually assaulted her. Each conditions present viewers that reproductive freedom should not be black-and-white choices as much as the state. It should not contain anybody apart from the affected person and a physician they’ve quick access to. As an alternative, it ought to give anybody the liberty to decide on whether or not they carry a being pregnant to time period no matter the place they stay, their financial class, or the violence pressured towards them.
The movie ends with a shot of Rachel tucking Maddy into mattress after arriving residence, the abortion full. Earlier than letting her sleep, she lights a birthday cupcake and tells her daughter to make a want. Pink, White, and Blue leaves audiences with a semi-happy ending. Though Maddy will cope with the trauma she confronted following her assault, the ladies round her, notably her mom, guarantee she nonetheless will get to be a toddler. She will get to want for a future crammed together with her personal goals and targets as an alternative of being pressured to turn into a mom. Whereas motherhood is usually a stunning life for some, it must be a selected path moderately than an imposed destiny.
Pink, White, and Blue is free to look at on YouTube for a restricted time.