Another Man’s Garden (2006/Mozambique/First Run Features DVD)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C Film: C+
A
sometimes stark portrait of life for women in Mozambique, Joao Luis Sol de
Carvalho’s Another Man’s Garden
(2006) shows how much of an oppressive society it is for women; especially in
the more they want to get ahead. Instead
of opportunity, they are faced with scorn, hate, sick societal attitudes and
even things like assault (including sexual) at every turn. Starting with the story of Sofia and her
desire to become a doctor and make a goods life for herself, the journey rip
the lid off the silence that helps to make this possible.
As
metaphor, we see (very graphically, like much in this film) a woman giving
birth. Straight out of the womb, the
child seems stillborn until we see otherwise.
It becomes the disturbing beginning to many more disturbing things and
events as the sometimes intense and brutal 80 minutes unfolds. Much is said and the only problem is that
this does not go on long enough, but it is amazing this was made at all and
will hopefully be the beginning on a dialogue on how to change things for the
better. The title is nonsense about how
giving a woman an education is a waste and like giving something to someone
else free, as if it and women were trivial.
This has got to change!
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is soft and shot on video, likely not High Definition,
but has some interesting color, composition and interesting locations. Also expect some of other visual flaws like
aliasing errors and halos throughout, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple
stereo at best and fares better than the image overall, despite location
recording issues. Extras include a text
filmmaker’s statement, more on Mozambique and the Global Lens Series.
- Nicholas Sheffo
