Held hostage by grief: What Straw gets right (and wrong)

​Tyler Perry’s latest film Straw, which premiered on 6 June on Netflix, has many viewers divided. Some who have followed Perry’s work find the black woman’s struggle angle a bit tired, while some find the film compelling, albeit painful to watch. 

As with the latter view, I had my heartstrings tugged and twisted on a random Monday morning. It is definitely not a great way to start a week but, fortunately, Mondays are my days off when I am free to be “human” and “feel”. Love or hate Perry, the illustrious writer-director knows how to tell a persuasive story about those on the margins of society.

A roller-coaster ride of sweat, tears and screams, Straw follows hard-working single mother Janiyah Wiltkinson, played by Taraji P. Henson, on a devastatingly bad day that leads her into a shocking act of desperation. As a film about a person’s breaking point leading to a hostage situation, Straw borrows heavily from Denzel Washington’s John Q and John Boyega’s Breaking. 

On the local front, I was also reminded of Kagiso Modupe’s Losing Lerato 2, the sequel to the 2019 drama film Losing Lerato. 

One of the similarities between these films is that they are about how despair can lead a person, particularly someone from a disadvantaged community, to hold people hostage in a bid to get their pressing needs met. 

Apart from the female lead, the differences with Straw are the troubling themes of struggling single mothers and the mental health issues related to the loss of a child. 

Single mothers and grief 

Regardless of where you are in the world, the film could be highly triggering to those who have experienced the struggles of single mothers. Particularly for households in low-income areas, these include financial strain, fatigue, stigma and lack of access to essential resources. 

In South Africa, for instance, only one-third of children (33.8%) lived with both parents according to a 2022 General Household Survey by Statistics South Africa. Of them, 43.4% lived only with their mothers, while a much smaller percentage (4%) lived only with their fathers, according to the survey. 

Added to these challenges for single mothers are the mental health issues related to losing a child. Sure, Perry could do better in stretching his filmmaking catalogue beyond sad black female stories. But the invisible wars women fight due to the often ignored mental health issues that come with grieving over a child’s death were prominent in Straw. 

In South Africa, the infant mortality rate for 2021 was estimated at 24.1 per 1 000 live births, according to StatsSA. Some contributing factors include HIV/Aids, inequality, poor maternal nutrition and inadequate access to quality healthcare. 

Due to capitalism, and life’s daily demands, many women are simply expected to carry on like nothing happened. As such, the effect on a single mother’s mental health is often unnoticed by family members, employers and even the grieving mother herself.

Misunderstood and support networks

But who will believe a woman, let alone a single mother, if she opens up about her mental health struggles in an antagonistic patriarchal society? In her book Invisible Women, British author Caroline Criado-Perez argues that instead of believing women when they say they’re in pain, society tends to label them as mad, irrational or over emotional. 

Male theorists such as Stephen Hawking and Sigmund Freud, the author further argues, supported this skewed view of the women in their earlier work. As society evolves, we would expect thoughts on women and their mental health to change but, sadly, that’s not the case. In the film, Janiyah is extremely frustrated when people, including some male characters, do not understand her situation. 

We witness narcissistic and shallow men disregard Janiyah’s emotions without compassion or understanding. Her employer Richard (Glynn Turman), for instance, doesn’t miss a beat in throwing accusations and insults at her. FBI Agent Bryce (Derek Phillips) and Officer Oliver’s (Tilky Jones) dismissal of Janiyah’s reasons, highlight the white supremacy that often tramples women’s needs. 

The absence of the father also rang loudly throughout the film. Where was the child’s dad to support Janiyah emotionally and financially? 

The solidarity and understanding among the female characters was commendable but expected as Perry’s signature. Along with the group of supporters outside the bank — Kay Raymond, the detective (Teyana Taylor), and the bank manager Nicole (Sherri Shepherd) — were empathy and understanding personified.

Though many studies have attempted to explain how people react to grief, it must be said that different people experience grief differently, particularly when it comes to the loss of a child. Dissociation, depression and anxiety could be some of the effects. 

Due to economic inequalities, social stigma and lack of knowledge of mental wellness some, unfortunately, get stuck in an unending loop. Interventions such as positive community support, therapy and even medication are what most healthcare practitioners would typically advise. At the end, however, it is up to the person, man or woman, to ask for help when drowning in the mind’s abyss. 

The pain from mental health struggles is not a gender issue but a human topic. The film reminds us to be more kind to one another, to check up on that family member, colleague or neighbour who has gone through an overwhelming traumatic experience. Straw has to be Perry’s most heartbreaking film on the painful struggles of black women I’ve seen since For Coloured Girls in 2010. Overall, the contemporary themes and Henson’s award-worthy performance in tapping into a wide spectrum of emotions saves the film from mediocrity.