Virago

“Virago,” a 2019 Estonian short film, follows the Eastern European village of Virago through a fictional narrative where men lounge around while women embody the traditional roles of providing and caring for the family. Why do men die before 40? When World War II started the men hightailed it off to hide in the woods instead of joining the war effort, because “it wasn’t their war to fight.” The story goes that while in hiding, the Grim Reaper was enraged by their cowardice and cursed the men of Virago to die by their 40th birthday.