As the film opens we watch the heroine, Hara (Joy), heading towards a most deviant behaviour. She snatches a newborn baby from a maternity clinic.
It is an intrinsic act of hubris against the ideal of motherhood, which is a "sensitive" notion across all societies.
Subconsciously, intuitively and almost dreamily, Hara decides that she is entitled to have a baby of her own, even if it is really someone else΄s child. She seems unaware of the harm this causes to the baby΄s real mother; or perhaps she simply doesn΄t care. She is overcome by desire for love. In her eyes there is no mother for this baby other than herself.
The two days she spends with the baby yield such emotional charge, enough to last a lifetime.
When she crosses paths with a criminal who attempts to steal and hurt the baby, she slays him brutally without thinking twice.
This act of rescuing the baby, rightfully earns her a share in motherhood. She has given to the child the present of life, just like a birth mother does.
When, she finally gets arrested, she shows no interest in defending herself.
Besides the abduction of the baby, she is accused of murdering a man (allegedly her accessory) and for having planned the kidnapping with the aforementioned victim.
It is only the audience who knows that nothing of all this, is true.
On one side, there stands a society that fully supports the birth mother. The participants in the trial, police, judges and jurors, have condemned her from the very beginning.
On the other side stands Hara. Alone. Unwilling to take part in the procedures; rejecting anyone΄s authority to judge her feelings, her relationship with the baby, her right to love, to give and receive joy.
In between, three characters. Hara΄s mother, who tries in vain to explain the behaviour of her daughter.
A man she met on her trip; a walker, fulfilling a sacred vow in gratitude for his child΄s rescue at birth. He seems to understand her, probably because they are kindred spirits.However, in the eyes of the court the man appears almost as bizarre as she is.
Her lawyer, indifferent at first, in the end he advocates her innocence. But mainly he makes an effort to understand her. He may even have fallen in love with her.
Yet, Hara is on a wavelength of her own. This is not due to a mental disorder, as diagnosed by a psychiatrist. It is something the audience already knows, after having seen her in her cell. making childlike, humorous remarks about the hearing, even though she refuses to take part in it.
A whole world, hitherto unfamiliar to us, is revealed in the character of Hara.
She manages to shake our persuasions, as she assumes an almost rebellious stance, acting solely on instinct. She doesn΄t mind getting a life sentence. She doesn΄t care if she loses everything. The emotions she experienced during her short time with the baby have made her life worth living, even if she has to spend the rest of it locked in a prison cell.
It is her adamant conviction, her absolute devotion to those feelings, that make her such an intricate but extraordinary personality.