World film project: Pakistan
Mar. 13th, 2020 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livThanks to ambyr's rec, we watched Dukhtar ['Daughter'], (2014, directed Afia Nathaniel).
ambyr described this very well:
The characters are all really vivid, and I cared about them a lot, partly because the film is so careful to avoid piling on the drama. The tribal enforcers who go around shooting almost-random people in order to make people fear them are squalid, not glamorous. The elder who is desperate enough to sell his 10-year-old daughter for protection is basically pathetic rather than evil. The main character, Samiya Mumtaz' Allah Rakhi is beautiful and brave, but not really a heroine, she's desperate and runs away with her daughter with almost no plan for how they're going to survive. In other words she's really plausible for a barely literate woman married at 15 and sent to a remote, very patriarchal village in the mountains.
The romance between Allah Rakhi and Sohail is likewise really understated. He's not a white knight saving the princess, and in fact they even joke about how much he doesn't fit that romantic stereotype. He's a troubled person who has survived and escaped from the Taliban training camps, and he doesn't really want to get involved but can't just abandon a desperate mother and daughter to their fate. They have a certain amount of tenderness, but don't instantly fall in love and it's not clear whether their relationship will last, or whether it will end up being romantic or more friend-based. I also really liked that the dashing, handsome man who is avuncular with the kid and flirts with the mother in a rather aggressive way turns out to be a bad guy, not the love interest.
The ending is really odd. The credits just happen in the middle of a desperate car-ride taking the heroine to hospital bleeding from a gunshot wound. I think we're meant to infer that she survives but it's really not clear.
Next up: Nigeria, our first African country. Any recommendations of Nigerian films? Ideally from the 21st century, and not primarily about violence or depressing real-world history.
ambyr's rec, we watched Dukhtar ['Daughter'], (2014, directed Afia Nathaniel). ambyr described this very well: it does include misogyny and violence, but ultimately it's a hopeful film. The film feels almost like a stage play; it is almost entirely about the characters, a mother trying to save her young daughter, and the roadster who reluctantly helps them. The camera doesn't dwell either on the beautiful scenery (there are mountains in the background, but no gorgeous cinematic shots) or on the violence; there are quite a few shootings in the film, but it's never gory because it's not about gun porn, it's about trying to escape from that violent world of gang / tribal violence. Quite a bit of it is filmed in shaky-cam style as if it were just incidental video of people's lives.
The characters are all really vivid, and I cared about them a lot, partly because the film is so careful to avoid piling on the drama. The tribal enforcers who go around shooting almost-random people in order to make people fear them are squalid, not glamorous. The elder who is desperate enough to sell his 10-year-old daughter for protection is basically pathetic rather than evil. The main character, Samiya Mumtaz' Allah Rakhi is beautiful and brave, but not really a heroine, she's desperate and runs away with her daughter with almost no plan for how they're going to survive. In other words she's really plausible for a barely literate woman married at 15 and sent to a remote, very patriarchal village in the mountains.
The romance between Allah Rakhi and Sohail is likewise really understated. He's not a white knight saving the princess, and in fact they even joke about how much he doesn't fit that romantic stereotype. He's a troubled person who has survived and escaped from the Taliban training camps, and he doesn't really want to get involved but can't just abandon a desperate mother and daughter to their fate. They have a certain amount of tenderness, but don't instantly fall in love and it's not clear whether their relationship will last, or whether it will end up being romantic or more friend-based. I also really liked that the dashing, handsome man who is avuncular with the kid and flirts with the mother in a rather aggressive way turns out to be a bad guy, not the love interest.
The ending is really odd. The credits just happen in the middle of a desperate car-ride taking the heroine to hospital bleeding from a gunshot wound. I think we're meant to infer that she survives but it's really not clear.
Next up: Nigeria, our first African country. Any recommendations of Nigerian films? Ideally from the 21st century, and not primarily about violence or depressing real-world history.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-03-13 04:49 pm (UTC)The only Nigerian film I've seen is a short documentary about Boko Haram, which was fine but not really within your criteria. If you want a film from Niger (which...what is the adjectival form for something from Niger? Presumably not Nigerian, as that would be confusing), K reported moderately enjoying Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It, a remake of Prince's Purple Rain (the local language apparently does not have a color word for purple).
(no subject)
Date: 2020-03-14 08:07 am (UTC)*Looks at criteria*
*Looks at "93 Days" trailer*
*Looks at criteria*
*Looks at "93 Days" trailer*
So, true story of how one heroic woman doctor saved Nigeria from Ebola probably not what you're looking for?
(I haven't seen it myself, but it was brought to my attention for the obvious reason, and it looks amazing.)
(no subject)
Date: 2020-03-14 08:18 pm (UTC)