Post by Jep Gambardella on Mar 10, 2019 20:38:44 GMT
This was Lebanon's entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar this year. It got the nomination but eventually lost to "Roma". It's a very good movie but it's definitely not a pleasant one - in fact it is one of the saddest movies I've seen in years. It's about a young boy who lives with his parents and innumerable siblings in a miserable cramped apartment until the day he decides to leave. He then crosses paths with an Ethiopian illegal immigrant who lives in constant fear of being deported with her baby.
I hesitate to recommend it because of the subject matter, even though it is a very well made film that is worthy of the nominations and awards and the 10-minute standing ovation it received at Cannes. But it is hard to watch and depressing and if you are anything like me, it will make you cry uncontrollably - not in the same way that melodramas about dying dogs or cystic fibrosis-stricken teens make you cry. It goes much deeper; you will cry because you'll be reminded that, even though the story takes place a world away, those are still our fellow human beings living their entire lives in miserable conditions.
I hesitate to recommend it because of the subject matter, even though it is a very well made film that is worthy of the nominations and awards and the 10-minute standing ovation it received at Cannes. But it is hard to watch and depressing and if you are anything like me, it will make you cry uncontrollably - not in the same way that melodramas about dying dogs or cystic fibrosis-stricken teens make you cry. It goes much deeper; you will cry because you'll be reminded that, even though the story takes place a world away, those are still our fellow human beings living their entire lives in miserable conditions.
