The Divine Order

When one thinks of Switzerland from a political viewpoint, it is usually the country's centuries-old neutrality that has seen it sit out wars that comes to one's mind. The idea, then, of any Swiss citizen being any sort of political firebrand would seem an unlikely occurrence, but the feel-good drama "The Divine Order" is about one Swiss housewife who decided, somewhat reluctantly, to shake things up in her fight for equal rights.�

The setting is a small country village in 1971, where Nora (Marie Leuenberger) keeps house for her husband Hans (Maximilian Simonischek), their two children, and her grumpy father-in-law. When a rather bored Nora announces she wants to go back to work, Max not only says that he is against the idea, but he forbids it as is his right under Swiss law.

This is the year that Switzerland is going to vote yet again on a mandate that may finally give women the vote, and the opposition to that in Nora's village is not led by the menfolk, but by Miss Wipf (Therese Affecter), a wealthy spinster who owns the timber workshop that employs most of them. She is also the closed-minded leader of the village social club; she declares equality between the sexes is "a sin against nature."�

Nora gets even more incensed when Hanna, her niece (Ella Rumpf), who had run off with her boyfriend, is now committed to a reform school purely on the whim of her father; her mother had no right to be involved in the decision.

With the aid of Graziella (Marta Zoffoli), who is an Italian newcomer in town and who is about to open her restaurant, Nora is joined by one other villager, the elderly Vroni (Sibylle Brunner). The three plot to start an information campaign to actually make all the other women aware of how very uneven the playing field is.

They have a side trip to Zurich to take part in a women's march, where they are also now joined by Hanna's mother, Theresa (Rachel Braunschweig). The event inspires the women -- as does the seminar that follows it, although they are initially embarrassed to be in packed room full of women being told that they should worship their own vaginas.

Back in the village, the other women are finally moved to take action, and they all leave home and go on strike. Bunking down in Graziella's restaurant there is wonderful feeling of camaraderie, and total relief that they have finally had the nerve to stand up to their husbands, who have browbeaten them all their lives.

"The Divine Order" is written and directed by�Petra Biondina Volpe,�who shows a deft hand, imbuing her script with some neat comic touches, ensuring that that seriousness of the subject never weighs down her story telling. Even though the outcome of the vote is predictable, how it affects the women individually is not, and a touch of intrigue helps make this film so compelling.

Leuenberger plays Nora beautifully; her wide-eyed innocence admits a touch of steel when she needs it, and the veteran�Sibylle Brunner was a sheer joy as the eccentric Vorni.

"The Divine Order" has been picking up awards on the film festival circuit, and� the three they garnered from Tribeca include the Best Audience Award, which makes a great deal of sense, as this truly is a crowd pleaser.