In February of 2025 after the Trump administration was sworn back to power, as many as 19 states in the US have banned abortion. In a world that is slowly dying due to the scorching heat of the sun or the fading seasons, there’s nothing more distressing than World Leaders prioritizing taking away the autonomy that women have over their bodies – essentially taking us back in time and reinforcing a regressive patriarchal mindset. Yun Xie’s angry solo debut feature “Under the Burning Sun” is set in a fictional wasteland. However, it echoes the aforementioned sentiment by showing a woman who has to take an arduous journey, just so she can make her own choices.
The said wasteland is left unnamed but we can see the references to the States. Mowanza (Stephanie Pardi), a solitary young woman is struggling to battle away the recurring nightmares she has been witnessing despite the heat of the desert. She was sexually assaulted and the fact that she now has to bear an unwanted pregnancy in a world where everyone lacks empathy is slowly eating her up. When she somehow manages to find a doctor to have a look at the health of her fetus, she gets to know that she can’t terminate it while living in the country. When she is unable to get alternative solutions, and self-harm doesn’t quite help, she decides to drive all the way out to a land named “Iropus” where abortion is still legal.
On her way there, she meets a lot of interesting characters that either deject or reinforce her nihilistic attitude towards life. Allowing her to take a journey that, in a perfect world, would imply freedom – but in an imperfect world, leaves us with a bleakness that feels urgent. Yun Xie’s approach towards her story, however, feels quite listless because you do get a sense of narrative consistency before the film decides to randomly shift into a moody piece. The confusing nature of the progression takes away from the more pertinent aspects of the story.
Although, it is interesting to see that Mowanza, as a character and as a woman remains a mystery to us because much like Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road”, her motifs are kept within the gaze of how everything angers her. This offers us a complex look at what it is like to be an opinionated woman in a world that doesn’t allow you to have one. So, when she does chance upon a fleeting sense of catharsis in the affection and grief she can share with Mavis (Stevie Kincheloe), a victim of domestic abuse, her character feels more grounded.
Yun Xie throws in some blatant digs at capitalism where the thriving nature of a water supply chain named “Cloud Water” makes you more aware of the possibility of a battered world that will be co-led by money-hungry organizations that would go to any extent to take things away instead of providing it. In the name of world-building, this key element is good enough for us to buy into the urgency of everything that happens with Mowanza. That said, more interesting quirks and a more concrete sound and production design would have made the movie’s visual sense more memorable. As a filmmaker, Yun Xie makes some interesting choices like not showing the face of any men that come in Mowanza’s way, making her madness feel even more palpable even though some more leeway into her story would have made me care for her journey a little more than I did.
“Under the Burning Sun” is gorgeously shot, mostly in natural light and Stephanie Pardi’s dedicated performance almost uplifts the hollow nature of the side characters or the listless way in which the sequences are put together. It’s a promising start for a filmmaker because it is a film that has something to say even though it is not completely successful in saying it.
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