Behind the Celluloid: The Making of “Following the Heart”

BY SPENCER MAHONEY

“Engaging the law, per se, is a scary predicament for people wishing to attain equality.”

The above is one of the last sentences author and screenwriter Isabel P. Ball uses to finish the accounts of her story, a story that is currently being developed as an independent film.  In many ways, this one sentence not only does a very good job of describing Miss Ball’s personal struggles, but it is also a universal sentiment felt by groups of individuals, time and time again, in various countries and in numerous governments.

This particular story begins for Isabel P. Ball in Pakistan. Ball was a young lesbian woman who was open to romantic sentiment in a time and place that was not open to her particular amorous leanings.  In Pakistan, the word “amorous” was not the one that came to mind if two women were engaged in a romantic entanglement.  To many, “immoral” would be the first word that entered into their minds as they saw this type of display.

It is then, as cinematic irony would have it, in the very conservative world of 1980’s Pakistan, that a young Pakistani woman would catch Ball’s eye, and heart.  Indeed, they both knew the risks of such a relationship, yet somehow, the word “love” weighed heavier in their hearts than the word “danger” in their minds.

Ball writes: “Aware of the rigid Muslim culture, I am, at that point, simply overpowered by love energy.  I have least concerns about the dangers that lurk around, embedded in a culture of much maligned conservatism and religious fervor manifesting in lurid fanaticism.”

Although public sentiment was not on their side, for a while Isabel and her lover went unscathed by society.  However, as expected, when the truth of their “friendship” was realized, many of Ball’s lover’s family members and neighbors either outright disapproved of the women’s closeness or used Isabel’s desire to be accepted by them as a means to an end.

Isabel recounts these events by saying that, “Over time, our love develops. Expectedly, pressures and harassments mount upon us, imposed by her clan and their supporters in the village.  Money bilking schemes, physical threats, and their viciousness culminated in pilferage of my briefcase, much coveted for its valuable contents including jewelries and cash.”

The “affair of the briefcase” reads like the first shot fired during an act of civil strife; for this is the singular event that causes an emotional back-and-forth between Ball and the people of her lover’s area.  The police are called in by Ball to mediate the situation of her stolen valuables, yet this action ends up having a counter action that almost takes from Isabel the one thing she truly held as valuable among all others at that time, her lover.

“The clan, sensing love as the magnetic pull on their darling girl to me, pounces on her like a hawk, and takes her away to a bastion-like captivity, never to be seen or heard by me again.”

This ends up not being the case, however.  Like some last minute lightning strike of an idea in the mind of the action hero in the final acts of a movie, Isabel realizes a way to be reunited with her lover.  In what would surely seem an implausibility in 1980’s Pakistan, Ball decides to use the legal system to her advantage.  To some at that time (and probably even today), it may have seemed a foolhardy waste of time and effort.  However, to a woman in love and with resources, a few connections, and more than a lot of determination, it was all she had left at her disposal.

“Nothing I know of, not even miracles, which I know are unreal, could deliver a solution to the very convoluted love situation I’m in.  Then, the sophisticate mind spurs into action.  I make a gamble, as a last resort, invoking the power of the court system in a country that has zero tolerance for non-hetero relationships.  I reach the point where my attitude is simply to do or die.  Luckily, I find a smart lawyer.”

The fight Ball and her associates face is a grueling one… not too unlike the current battles for civil rights that are ongoing.  The situation in this case, however, was all the more compounded due to locale and cultural differences, not just in Pakistan, but across the globe, concerning gay rights at that time.  However, for the “Last Act” the readers will probably benefit best from reading the ordeal from the one who experienced it firsthand.

To sum up her uncertain legal battle for love, Isabel Ball goes on to say: “A grueling experience would seem an understatement [to describe] the entire ordeal.  Engaging law, per se, is a scary predicament for people wishing to attain equality.  Much more, to do it in a foreign land [with a] known archaic system and mindset is just sheer audacity, unparalleled in reality. In my case, I am one favored soul by destiny propelled and protected by the power of love. How ironic it is that a male Pakistani acquaintance prods the book idea to me.”

Ball says that miracle’s are unreal.  However, it would appear from the positive outcome of this case that perhaps miracles are a very realistic occurrence.  Perhaps in a push for equal rights, no matter who you are, where you live, or what government you live under all you need to carry your fight is a goal in your mind and love in your heart and the true miracle will be that one woman, or one million people, can stand up to that which they believe holds them back.  After all, isn’t love a miracle?  Perhaps the audience can decide for themselves when the film Following the Heart, which is based on Isabel P. Ball’s book, premieres.