To help you ease your way into our world, we have devised a the film difficulty ranking system to rate the difficulty of each film reviewed on our site. The easiest to watch films (the Rom-Coms and Superhero flicks that you watch anyway) will have a rating of 1. Foreign language films automatically add one point, as do black and white films, and films with strange and hard to follow plots. Welcome to Film Difficulty 3.
Film Difficulty Ranking 3: More of a challenge for those familiar with foreign films. Level 3 is like a mix between an intriguing European mime artist and your most interesting and demanding school teacher.
If you’ve mastered these films, move onto Film Difficulty Ranking 4.
From: Slovenia, Europe Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Amazon Prime, Hoopla Next: Stitches, The Last of Us, By A Sharp KnifeContinue reading “Feed Me With Your Words – A Multi-Layered Brooding Mystery”
From: Papua New Guinea, Australasia Watch: Watch on YouTube, IMDb Next: Cuestion de Fe, Akasha, Tanna
In the opening of Tinpis Run, Papa meets Naaki. Papa is driving one of his regular taxi routes across the highlands when he almost falls asleep at the wheel and crashes his car. Naaki pulls him out of the car and rushes him to hospital, saving him from certain death. In thanks, Papa promises Naaki his daughter’s hand in marriage (she refuses). However, despite his daughter’s refusal, Naaki convinces Papa to buy a new vehicle and get back in the taxi business to cement their new bond of friendship. Together, they drive around the country going along with whatever life throws at them, whether that’s gambling losses that force them to bond with local politician/criminals, highway robberies, and tribal warfare. Whatever misfortunes hit them, they’re treated with deadpan comedy instead of concern, much like the slapstick adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
Papa and Naaki’s unlikely friendship was the first thing that reminded me of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Papa is an old highland chief making a living through his taxi business whilst Naaki is a regular guy from the city. Whilst Papa still identifies with traditional PNG life, such as tribal rivalries and giving away his daughter’s hand in marriage, Naaki rejects them. He prefers the simple manly pleasures of life such as womanizing and life by the beach. Papa’s fervor for traditionalism matches Don Quixote’s dreams of being a chivalrous knight. Naaki, like Sancho Panza, is happy to go along with Papa just to get closer to his daughter and to make a living.
Under the comedy, there’s a critique of the lasting effects of colonialism. In the early scenes of the movie, when Papa is looking for a new truck to restart his taxi business with Naaki, he finds a beat-up truck being sold by a white man. Papa, old enough to remember the neocolonialist rule of the country under Australia, calls the white man ‘master’ and doesn’t question his extortionate price. His unquestioned trust of the white man shows the lasting effect of colonialism’s promotion of white superiority.
But it’s not just the white man that tries to exploit the indigenous PNG citizens. We see a PNG citizen from the mainland trying to exploit PNG citizens on the islands (as well as Papa and Naaki). He tricks Papa and Naaki into taking their car on one of his boats to a nearby island to promote his campaign in the local elections. He uses their car as a symbol of the ‘civilization’ and technology he will bring to the island if the islanders vote for him. Just as the white man used his white status to rip off Papa, this PNG citizen uses his status as a city dweller to trick the islanders. It marks that the cycles of exploitation founded in colonialism didn’t end with independence.
If you’d like to watch another light road trip adventure, head to Bolivia to watch Cuestion de Fe. There’s also Ghana’s Bigman Wahala if you want a big more laugh out loud humor.
Or if you’re looking for another film featuring characters letting life lead them where it wills, check out Sudanese film aKasha or Portugal/Cape Verde’s Djon Africa.
Lastly, for more films featuring tropical island life, go watch Jamaica’s Outdeh, and Hawaii’s August at Akiko’s. Whilst it’s not an island, Suriname’s Wan Pipel also has that same laid back tropical island feel too, and is a great film from a country without much of a film industry.
Do you want some drama? Well this film has plenty. In Murder in Pacot, Peck shines a light on all of the tensions that the earthquake revealed. You’ll hear fierce arguments from the start between Haitian’s and the NGOs, and between the middle and working classes. This is Haiti at it’s worst.
This film starts with dramatic music accompanying workers in white body suits carrying bodies pulled from the rubble. It’s 3 days since the 2010 Haiti earthquake struck and a middle-class couple are trying to get by after their house has been made almost inhabitable by officials. So they’re living in their former servants shed and need to let out their main house to try and make enough money to pay for repairs.
The person who starts renting their house is Alex, a young NGO worker from France. However, it is never clear what he does for the fictional ‘Beyond Aid’ NGO, as all he tells us is that ‘he helps’. 
The only evidence of his work are of the photos he takes, featuring him with smiling kids reminiscent of your typical ‘gap-year’ pictures (see right). These pictures are his ‘trophies’. They symbolise his delusions that he is actually helping Haiti recover from the earthquake when he is really not helping at all.
Furthermore, Alex also has a Haitian girlfriend, Jennifer, who comes to live with him in the derelict house. She has escaped from the poor south of the country which has been devastated by the earthquake and is trying to use Alex as a way to get her to Europe.
Jennifer becomes a symbol of Haiti. Like many in Haiti, she lost her family and home in the earthquake and now she is temporarily enjoying the benefits of NGO support. She lets Alex (the NGO) take advantage of her in exchange for temporary shelter and food. She also lets her ‘brothers’ into the house when Alex is away to pleasure them. However, Jennifer, like Haiti is doomed to be exploited. She can never escape the society that she was born into and is doomed to be stuck in poverty.
It’s clear that Peck (the director) doesn’t think much of the NGOs that came into Haiti following the earthquake. He makes Alex into a pathetic NGO worker who only works for the photos that he can share with his friends at home rather than actually committing to help change the country. In addition, Peck also attacks his fellow Haitians for taking advantage of Jennifer (our symbol of Haiti). She is free and beautiful, but is taken advantage of by men and the middle classes who are keen to keep her in her place in poverty.
From: Guinea Bissau, Africa Watch: Trailer, Kanopy, Buy Next: Flame, Sambizanga, LuciaContinue reading “Mortu Nega – Guinea Bissau’s Fight for Independence”
Brooks, Meadows, and Lovely Faces Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
“We forgot your aunt!” *Two men appear carrying her in a bathtub complaining*
“You’re not carrying the pyramid”
“No! But at least that was one stone at a time!”
You’ll experience plenty of drama in Brooks, Meadows, and Lovely Faces. But you’ll be transfixed throughout because of the quick-witted banter, flirting, and taunting.
Brooks, Meadows, and Lovely Faces starts at a big celebration. The wealthiest man in town has hired the best chefs and has a big time governor as his guest of honor. But it’s obvious that none of the villagers like him. He picks problems with their cooking (even though they’re the experts) and takes offence at them calling him by his nickname. One thing is already clear from this opening – there’s going to be drama!
The film flashes back maybe a year earlier and follows the chefs from the opening scene. They’re getting ready for a big wedding. During the preparations one of the top chefs sees one of his old crushes return to the neighborhood from abroad. There’s also a secret marriage and plenty of extra-marital flirting. You just know there’s going to be trouble! If you like this kind of trouble this film might just be for you!
Just like in After the Battle Yousry Nasrallah’s Brooks, Meadows, and Lovely Faces has plenty of juicy drama. There’s plenty of controversy, comebacks, and tension. If that’s your thing, you better find this film and watch it now!
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