I haven’t read Journey to the West and I’m completely unfamiliar with the story line, so I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this adaptation of the Chinese Classic. However, if you’re looking for pure cinematic mayhem, Chinese Odyssey Part One and Part Two are as good as you get.
From: Hong Kong, AsiaRead The Full Review
Watch: Trailer, Tubi, Vudu, Buy on Amazon
Next: Life of Brian, Star Wars, Kung Fu Hustle
Jamilia is for all women living in patriarchal societies (therefore pretty much all societies) around the world. You’ll get to hear from a number of Kyrgyz women, young and old, married and single, that are hoping for a freer future.
From: Kyrgyzstan, AsiaContinue reading “Jamilia – Hear from the Women of Kyrgyzstan”
Watch: Trailer, Rent on Amazon
Next: Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania, Liyana, Freedom Fields
If you love films about mad historical characters then check out Rey. It follows the unlikely story of Orelie-Antoine de Tounens, a French country lawyer who ventures to Chile in 1858 to unite the Mapuche. If you liked the madness of Aguirre or Apocalypse Now check this art-house flick now! I recommend watching the trailer below to see if you can handle it!
Rey begins with a Frenchmen who landed on the coast of Chile in 1858. According to legend he traveled to the end of the South American continent to create his own kingdom. He united the tribes from the region and proclaimed himself king.
If you think it already sounds mythic, the film’s experimental style makes it seem even more unbelievable. We first meet the self proclaimed king standing alone in the wilderness shrouded in mist. After the mist clears, he declares himself ‘the king of water’ as water magically flows from his hands into a pool of water below him.
The unusual images don’t stop there either. Later on, when he is on trial, all the characters involved in the trail are wearing paper-mache masks. The masks could signify the character’s lost connection with the true history of the continent (they refuse to acknowledge the tribes in the south). Or that they use the masks to hide their true history, which is ultimately wiped out.
As the French lawyer narrates how he came to South America, we are shown images of ships landing and western looking men riding horses. He describes how he ‘flew across the sea’ and immediately ‘felt the spirit of the land.’ Layering his narration over the images of westerners arriving is an allegory to the colonizers who came across the seas centuries before. He like them, has come to take control of the land. In his case, he ventures south in an attempt to unite and lead the Mapuche tribes. In doing so, he brings the last autonomous region in Chile into the spotlight. Ultimately, he is the tribes downfall.
Rey is one of the experimental films that works well. It pieces together the beginning of the end for the last autonomous tribes in Chile through the unbelievable character of Orelie-Antione de Tounens. It’s a creative depiction of a enigmatic character that fuses myth, memory, and history to tell an unlikely story.
For more similar (but easier to watch) films of enigmatic characters in Southern America, check out Aguirre and The Lost City of Z. Or if it’s a good jungle film you’re after, check out The Embrace of the Serpent and Apocalypse Now.
From: Madagascar, Africa Watch: Trailer, Vimeo, Kanopy, IMDb Next: Zerzura, Kirikou and the Sorceress, Sleepwalking Land
Kapila is born during a solar eclipse in the opening of When the Stars Meet the Sea. According to traditional Madagascan beliefs this gives him destructive powers, so his father secretly leaves him in a cattle pen to be trampled. He’s permanently crippled, but before the cows kill him, he’s saved by Raivo, who takes him to the city to raise as her own child. However, even though he’s brought up by a loving adoptive mother, he’s never able to fit into the community because of his crippled leg and growing supernatural powers. So he starts to question his roots, and with the help of a mystical blind woman he starts a journey into his past.
When the Stars Meet the Sea feels a bit like a modest Madagascan version of Hercules. In both, a child with supernatural powers is left to die but is saved by a humble villager that raises him as their own. Similarly, they both grow up with supernatural powers and realize that their humble families are not their own. So they go on a quest to find their true identity. However, whilst Hercules is destined for greatness, Kapila is cursed to use his powers for destruction.
Kapila’s journey therefore becomes his battle with destiny. Society believes he’s evil because of his birth date, and the glimpses of his destructive supernatural power justify their fears. It appears in his weakest moments: when’s he’s bullied or grieving. In order to allay his power, he has to quell his desires for vengeance against those who cross him, and replace those desires with love. In this way, his journey resembles that of Siddhartha: he can achieve peace and happiness if he tunes out his anger and desires for vengeance. It’s a journey of purification and finding peace with oneself.
When the Stars Meet the Sea infuses the landscape into the story. As Kapila walks through the Madagascan landscape on his way home he passes through the desert, woodland, mountains, and the savannah. The variety of scenery may look like an advertisement for the beautiful landscapes of Madagascar, but it’s also representative of the diversity of our own lives. In traditional Madagascan beliefs, the sky (where Kapila draws his supernatural powers) and the sea (where he journeys towards) represent birth and death. The earth represents the life in between. His journeys through the different Madagascan landscapes therefore represent the diversity of life and its challenges whilst his journey towards the sea represents life’s ultimate journey in this world: from birth to death.
If you’re looking for more African films in which the main character embarks on a magical quest, check out Zerzura from Niger. It features a psychedelic journey into the desert to fight the Djinn. You could also watch the brilliantly animated Kirikou and the Sorceress which features a magical baby that takes on an evil sorceress that demands human tributes from his village or Sleepwalking Land which features a post-apocalyptic Mozambique.
Otherwise if you’re looking for more films with a bit of magic and family secrets, go watch Eve’s Bayou, an American film set in rural Louisiana.
From: Moldova, Europe Watch: Trailer, IMDb Next: Yara, Mustang, Honeyland
Anishoara starts with the most unique scene of the whole film. A charismatic man tells the mythical origin story of the Sky Lark in a close up shot with him looking directly at the camera. The story is about a beautiful princess who had suitors lined up for her from across the country. Instead of choosing one of the princes, she chose to love the sun and raced across the land and sea to be with him. But when the sun fell in love with her and embraced her, she burned to ashes and fell back down to earth. Devastated by her fate, the sun decided to reincarnate her as a Sky Lark; a bird that is known for flying vertically before falling back to earth as if it’s trying to reach the sun.
Anishoara a 15 year old is the movie’s Sky Lark. Just like the Princess in the myth, she has suitors lining up to be her partner. There’s a farm boy that teaches her to drive the tractor and a creepy old German tourist that also tries his luck. Instead, she chooses a typical mysterious bad boy named Dragosh that takes her around the country on his motorbike. However, just as the princess was destined to a doom of trying to get close to her love, Anishoara appears destined to chase after Dragosh without getting close to him.
However, her suitors and Dragosh unintentionally change her future, perhaps for the better. Each one of them gives her a gift which helps her to escape from the rural town. The farm boy teaches her how to drive – a method of escape. The old German leaves his binoculars – a tool for her to see outside of the bubble she lives in. Dragosh takes her to the sea, revealing that life exists outside of her town. She uses what she learns from her relationships to seek a new life away from her unchanging home town. Elsewhere she may have the chance to determine her own life. In her escape, she also breaks free from the myth of the Sky Lark.
If you’re looking for more films that take place in rural settlements that feel like they’re from another era, check out North Macedonia’s Honeyland and Lebanon’s Yara.
For more films about women trying to escape from their current lives check out Nevia from the streets of Napoli and Mustang from rural Turkey.
Or if you’d like to see more understated films about women chasing after lost relationships, watch Uski Roti, an Indian film about a woman waiting for her unfaithful husband to return, of When the Tenth Month Comes featuring a woman hoping for her husband to return from war.
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