Thursday, September 4, 2008

Sometimes a tear or two are needed...

I dont know if I have ever cried, or wanted to cry at a movie. Maybe with the exception of The Hunchback of Notredame (Disney version), and that was only because I was in love with Esmarelda....

I just finished watching this movie Inshalla Dimanche (Maybe Sunday), and I don't know if I am on the verge of tears, or wish that I were eeking out one or two little drops. It was just so damn beautiful, sad, happy, amazing, lovely, and tragic...all at the same time.
It is about an Algerian woman who moves to France to be with her husband and the trials of adjusting to French life, and then she has to deal with an evil mother-in-law to boot. The film is simple enough, but this woman endures and endures and endures. Its just a toast to the resilience of the human spirit and I suppose to the burden faced by women in certain cultures.
Violence against women takes many forms, all of which I can never fully understand because:
a) I am not one
b) I am not violent against women...knowingly.

This movie came together for me. Knowingly. It all just came together. The music, the scenery, the actors, the family, everything. There was no sex (a normal prerequisite for my films), no guns, nothing...just real emotion.

Sometimes we need to see films like these to ground us. It is not only about the flashiest productions, or the largest budget, or even the most flesh....at times. Its about connecting with the actors in a way that imitates life.
That, is what a good movie is all about.

I tip my hat to Inshalla Dimanche.