Ben'Imana (RWA/Gab/Fra) (wiki)
22 years after the Rwandan genocide, the wheels of justice still turn slowly. In a run down village near Kigali, Vénéranda lives quietly with her daughter and mother. Their village still bears the scars of the attack, and families of both killer and killed share a space, old wounds never healing.
Faced with the impossible task of bringing her community back together in an act of joint forgiveness against the families of the aggressors, Vénéranda tries her best with little to help her. But her positive words in public meetings sit awkwardly with those she has in private with her daughter, who has fallen pregnant to a young Tutsi boy out of marriage.
Mutter: The Diary of a Mother (Tky) (mubi)
Winner of the Camera D'or for best first feature this year, Ben'Imana tells a difficult story wrapped in cultural traditions and deep open wounds. Asking the question of what to do, and answering that nothing will work without both sides willing to move on. I did struggle with some of the more subtle cultural themes but not enough for it to spoil things. 7/10
Mutter: The Diary of a Mother (Tky) (mubi)
As we join Gül, she's being transported at high speed through the forests of rural Turkey. Cam**, her husband is barely capable of keeping them on the road to the hospital, and a collapsed tree blocking their path is the least of their problems. It's clear there are complications with the imminent birth, and when cam hears the distinctly non-human screaming coming from the back of the transit van, he runs a mile.
Alone in the middle of nowhere, Gül somehow makes it back home, a rundown old shack with little to it's name; a series of bad decisions brought her to this point and now things are so much worse. The octopus-like being attached painfully to the teet, and somehow, that's the most comforting thing in the moment.
Güls predicament doesn't get any better, and the film seems to want to punish her with setback after tragedy through to the end. It's gritty horror with a smattering of social commentary, what a desperate woman has to lower herself to in a world where she is seen as meat.
But then it started to fall apart a bit - I was willing to suspend my disbelief with the strange mini-Cthulu child, but then the film took a leap with a scene where Gül finds out from a doctor that its all due to Chinobyl nuclear fallout creating a new substance wrapping around her internal organs, which came so far out of left-field that it made me laugh out loud; I suspect the intended audience reaction there was meant to be more empathetic to Gül's plight, but it just took the wind out of the last 20 minutes for me.
That notwithstanding, those looking for redemption at the conclusion may find themselves despairing and leaving their seats with an empty feeling in the pit of their stomach. But if you like your body horror with a side order of sunken-eyed depression, this could be for you. 6/10
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