Rowan Sullivan

306

Unknown Land (Yemen) – Dreaming on the Island of Socotra

Unknown Land Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

How much do you know about the Arab Spring in Yemen? If you followed the news, chances are you probably know more as the residents of Socotra. That’s because this alien looking island is approx. 380km from the Yemeni mainland and therefore untouched by the mainland’s politics. Unknown Land is a portrait of life on the island and the wandering thoughts of a half dead sailor, marooned on the island following a shipwreck.

Why Watch Unknown Land?
  • To see the uniquely beautiful landscape of the island of Socotra
  • If you like listening to dreamy narratives
  • For it’s musical interludes
  • To feel truly isolated from the rest of the world
The Breakdown

At the start of Unknown Land a man is washed onto one of the pristine beaches of island of Socotra. It appears that all of his energy was sucked out of him as he struggled to stay afloat after his shipwreck. All he can do is reflect on his past life and make peace with his past choices as he approaches death.

Meanwhile in one of the town’s of Socotra, a old man listens to an old radio as he smokes from a pipe fashioned from a goat horn. The radio gives us our only connection to the outside world. We hear that a sailing boat has sunk off of the shores of Socotra and all of the crew have gone missing. We also hear about the Yemeni protests on the mainland, but the old man’s indifference shows that these are insignificant to the inhabitants of Socotra. The island is too far away to be affected by what happens on the mainland.

The island’s isolation is reflected in the serene footage of Socotra. Firstly, the alien plants and landscape are unlike anything you’ve seen before. There are trees which look like spindly umbrellas, and mountains that disappear into pristine white beaches and emerald coloured sea. Secondly, the islands inhabitants rarely get any dialogue on screen, so you never get to connect with them. This is particularly noticeable with the old man who reappears throughout the film smoking from the same goat horn with a blank stare. The director deliberately emphasises the alien setting and distant people to make the island appear even more remote and dreamy.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

If you’re into dreamy narratives and alien landscapes, then check out Unknown Land. However, if you’re more of an action thriller fan, it’s best you check out some film difficulty level 2 or 3 films before you watch this.

For another dreamy film from the Middle East, check out Ahlaam (literally translated as dream) from Iraq. It follows a few Iraqis before and after the Iraq War. Otherwise, if you’re looking for something surreal from the Middle East, check out The Challenge. It’s your chance to live the life of the richest Sheikhs in Qatar.

Or if you’re simply looking for easy to watch films from the Middle East, check out some of the following (they’re all great):

  • Wadjda: A Saudi Arabian coming of age tale featuring an awesome little girl
  • About Elly: A slow-burning thriller from Iran (although not the film to watch before you go on a big family holiday)
  • Silvered Water: A portrait of war-time Syria, a great documentary constructed from first-hand footage to experience the horrors of the Syrian conflict.

 

307

Veve (Kenya) – Corruption and Extortion in Kenyan Politics

Veve Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Drugs, corruption, and extra-marital affairs feature in this Kenyan thriller centred around a macho politician. If you’re looking for excitement, danger, and a token white guy, this film is for you. Check it out here on Netflix.

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Why Watch Veve?
  • To meet one of Kenya’s ‘Big Men’
  • Learn what Veve is (known elsewhere as Khat)
  • For a token white guy
  • See how to defeat unions and oppress farmers
The Breakdown

People picking trees, leaves filling sacks, sacks thrown onto trucks, money changing hands… Veve starts with some quick cuts showing the distribution of veve from the trees it grows on to Kenya’s cities. Along the way it passes through a bunch of middle men and check points. You’ll also see money changing hands a few times along the way, but who does the money end up with?

The next scene reveals the prime candidate behind the drug-trafficking. Meet Amos, a local member of parliament campaigning to become governor of the region. Judged on first impressions, he’s a friendly husband who is popular in the region he is campaigning to govern. However, there’s more to Amos that meets the eye.

Simply put, he’s the prototype of the macho African ‘big man’ politician.

Firstly, you’ll see how he uses intimidation to try and guarantee votes. He tries to extort local businessmen as well as threaten farmers to vote for him. Secondly, you’ll witness his machismo. The director intentionally shows him criticise his wife for buying scented body lotion and chide his secretary for playing kid’s puzzles. Just in case that’s too subtle, he’s also cheating on his wife. He’s not a nice man.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

By giving Amos the characteristics of the ‘big man’ politician the director uses Amos to critique the power hungry men in Kenyan politics. It’s a subtle warning carried in a thrilling film well worth watching.

If you want to see more African ‘big men’ on screen, check out Last King of Scotland, a political thriller with Forrest Whitaker playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

Or if you want to see African films with more violence and corruption, check out Beasts of No Nation featuring kid soldiers in an unnamed African country. You can also check out the living perpetrators of the Liberian Civil War in Fragment 53.

 

308

The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (Senegal) – Meet Dakar’s Street Kids

The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

The Little Girl who Sold the Sun is an ode to the potential of Africa’s most oppressed. The main character, Sili, is a poor, disabled girl trying to make a living for herself and her blind grandmother. The odds are stacked against her – is there any hope? Find out by watching it here (Amazon).

Image result for the little girl who sold the sun

Why Watch The Little Girl who Sold the Sun?
  • To meet the marginalised people of Dakar
  • Get inspired by the spirit of young Sili
  • It’s only a short film – so you can watch it in 45 mins
  • Girl Power! This girl can do whatever the boys can!
The Breakdown

The Little Girl who Sold the Sun starts with a chaotic scene on the streets of Dakar. A woman is accused of being a thief by a man in the street. The man runs up to her, grabs her bag from her, and rummages through the bag whilst the woman indignantly shouts that she’s innocent. A crowd of spectators gathers around them to watch and laugh at the fight. It’s an opening that quickly establishes a few things:

  1. There’s sexism in Dakar – men hold power over women and can subject them to random searches and accusations and get away with it.
  2. Classism – people in positions of power pick on poor people making a living.
  3. The implicitness of everyone in Dakar. The spectators simply watch the powerful accuse the innocent and laugh at the unfortunates victimisation. Everyone is a part of the entrenched sexism and classism.
Our Saviour = Sili

Introducing Sili. She’s not meant to succeed in life: she’s poor, disabled, and a young. On top of that, she has to look after her blind grandmother.

So, how does she succeed? What isn’t obvious from first impressions is her incredible spirit and perseverance. She sees a few boys selling newspapers in the street and sees an opportunity. So she walks up to the newspaper office and demands some newspapers to sell.

She gets 13 newspapers (a lucky number) to sell, but she also inherits a bunch of rival sellers (all boys) and some jealous cops eager to see her fail. Watch the film here (Amazon) to see what happens.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

The Little Girl who Sold the Sun is a great film to watch to revive your faith in humanity. Sili’s spirit gives hope to the oppressed of the world. It’s well worth sparing 45 minutes of your time to meet her.

If you want to watch more films about street kids, check out these three films:

  1. Slumdog Millionaire: A film many of you will have seen, it’s a brilliant rags to riches story of two kids from the Mumbai slums.
  2. City of God: For more violence and less hope, check out Fernando Meirelles film about street kids come slum lords in Rio de Janeiro
  3. Tsotsi: Follow a young thug from the Johannesburg slums and see what he does when he finds a young baby in the back of a car he robs.

Or if you’re looking for more great contemporary West-African films, check out Wallay. You’ll meet a young kid from Paris who is taken on holiday to Burkina Faso to visit his family. What he doesn’t know is that his father intends to leave him there to work back the money he has stolen from him. It’s a great coming of age story.

309

Ratas, Ratones, y Rateros (Ecuador) – Crime-Filled Fun in Quito

Ratas, Ratones, y Rateros Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you’re looking for a fun, fast-paced crime-thriller from South America, Ratas, Ratones, y Rateros is the film to watch. You’ll try and evade the law with crazy ex-con Angel and his amateur thief cousin Salvador, accompanied by his teenage friends. It’s probably the closest you’ll get to the style of Trainspotting or Run Lola Run from South America. Plus it’s available to watch with subtitles below (thanks to Vimeo).

Why Watch Ratas, Ratones, y Rateros
  • See one of the best opening action scenes!
  • To meet one of the craziest characters – the bleached blond haired Angel
  • If you like Run Lola Run, Kung Fu Hustle, or Layer Cake– this is another fast-paced stylised action film
  • For a grimy rock music soundtrack typical of the late 1990s
The Breakdown

The film starts with a close up of a Angel’s face upside-down. He opens one eye and the camera zooms out to show him lying upside down, hanging off a bed, lying beside a woman. The camera starts fast-cutting between Angel, as he starts rolling a cigarette, and the bedroom door, which he keeps looking at.

It’s obvious he’s uneasy. The woman tries to reassure him that “no one saw him coming in”.

All of a sudden the door busts open and two armed men run in. Angel manages to escape the room and jump across a few tin roofed houses as the two men chase after him. The grimy rock music kicks in at this point as if to cheer on Angel vs. the chasers.

The chasers lose him in a large cemetery until Angel ambushes them and knocks dead one of the men chasing him to end a adrenaline-filled opening scene. (As words can’t accurately capture the feeling of the opening, I recommend checking out the opening here or in the embedded video above).

What happens after the awesome opening?

Quite a lot. We meet Salvador and his friends back in Quito. Salvador is Angel’s cousin, and he’s excited to hear that his cousin will be returning to the capital to see him. Salvador and his friends are all amateur thieves of their own, but when Angel arrives, he’s looking to take them to the next level.

Without giving too much away, he has some enemies in the capital, and Salvador also has some rich friends.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

All action or crime thriller fans will enjoy this film. It looks and feels like a great Hollywood indie film so it will be familiar to all Hollywood film fans. Check it out here on Vimeo.

If you’re after something similar (another stylised action thriller) I strongly recommend checking out the German thriller Run Lola Run. You could also check out Kung Fu Hustle or Layer Cake, two more films full of style that will keep you entertained throughout.

Otherwise for more South American thrillers, check out The Secret in their Eyes (just make sure it’s the Argentinian original). It’s one of the best foreign language films to start your world cinema journey with.

310

Cuestion de Fe (Bolivia) – A Saintly Road Trip Around Bolivia

Cuestion de Fe Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
  • Dodgy drug boss: check
  • Drunken protagonist: check
  • High stakes gambling: check

If you’re thinking Cuestion de Fe is a B-movie action flick, you’d be wrong. Whilst it does contain all the elements above, Cuestion de Fe is more of a fun, easy going road trip film. If you’re up for joining a drunk artist, a hanger-on, and a hustler in their bright pink truck to travel across Bolivia, this film is for you. You can watch the film here on Vimeo (Spanish only).

Image result for cuestion de fe bolivia

Why Watch Cuestion de Fe?
The Breakdown

Meet Domingo. He’s a craftsman who’s an expert at making statues of Catholic saints. But, he’s also a drunkard who uses his statues to barter for bottles of spirits at the bar next door.

One evening, a big drug boss from the Yungas (a region in the shadow of the Andes perfect from coca growing) pays Domingo’s local bar a visit. He wants Domingo to make him an exact replica of the Virgin featured in a local church. What’s more, he wants Domingo to deliver the statue to his town deep in the Yungas (a few days drive from them) within 12 days! Of course, it sounds impossible. But Domingo is the only person who could do it, and this drug boss is offering 80 million Bolivianos.

80 million Bolivianos is a very big sum of money, so of course Domingo says yes. He immediately gets to work with his friend and recruit a local hustler who offers to drive them to the Yungas. With the logistics sorted, can they make the statue and transport it in time?

Is it better to be a Statue or a Woman?

Like a lot of movies, Cuestion de Fe doesn’t pass the Bechdel test (that a film has to 1. have at least two women, 2. that talk to each other 3. about something other than a man). But, whilst you may not notice it, the subjugation of women in Cuestion de Fe isn’t great. There are only around 5 women in the film, all with minute roles. Here are the most memorable women in this film:

  1. A young woman sitting with 2 guys in the bar who returns Domingo’s stare and gets slapped by one of the guys, who is presumably her boyfriend, as a result.
  2. A prostitute who Domingo pays to keep him company at a pit stop
  3. The woman who Domingo’s hanger on instantly falls in love with and marries

In short, Cuestion de Fe does not show any independent women, they all rely on the male characters. In addition, the men don’t respect them or show them love.

When you contrast how the women are portrayed to the statue of the virgin that Domingo lovingly creates and looks after, I’d say that statues are treated better than the women in this film.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Cuestion de Fe truly is a fun movie to watch if you can either find a subtitled version or are quite good at Spanish. You’ll get to travel across Bolivia with a hilarious trio of oddballs, what more can you want!?

For more great road trip films you should check out:

  • Motorcycle Diaries: charting the famous road trip Che Guevara took with his buddy across South America.
  • Into the Wild: follow a recent graduate burn his money before roaming across the United States
  • Y Tu Mama Tambien: a raunchy coming-of-age road trip across Mexico
  • Thelma & Louise: one of Ridley Scott’s greatest films, a road race thriller which passes the Bechdel Test