M.I.A. UNMASKED

GETTING PEOPLE to care about conflicts in faraway lands is a losing battle. But try telling that to 43-year-old Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam (stage name, bears her father’s name, and her “Born Free” video—wherein young redheads are rounded up and executed—presents a jarring metaphor for Sri Lankan government atrocities. Her activism is also front and center in , an impressive new film chronicling Arulpragasam’s journey from child refugee to provocative pop star. Director Steve Loveridge offers an intimate look at her family life, her formative bond with Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann, and her struggle to be taken seriously as the rare Tamil celebrity in Western pop culture. “It's not the film I would have made,” she told after the Sundance premiere. But that’s a good thing. Armed with the footage from Arulpragasam's days as an aspiring documentarian, Loveridge depicts the star as vulnerable, fallible, and altogether human. Her shamed yet defiant re action to the shitstorm she caused by flipping the bird during a Super Bowl halftime show is instantly relatable. She spars with the media and at one point, feeling distressed, uses the camera as a therapist. Whatever you think of M.I.A.’s unique pop fusion of East and West, the film, out September 28, has lots to convey—about a unique personality and the world at large.