© A.J. Malouin 2011
(Rating: 3 by A.J. Malouin.) (See our side-bar page "How We Rate Movies" at www.What-To-See-Next.com)
(2009/Spain/Peru. Directed by Claudia Llosa.) Here's a film that could sustain its Best-Foreign-Film Academy-Award nomination on the basis of its cinematography alone. Beautiful in composition and execution, "La teta asustada" ["The Milk of Sorrow"] is -- from first shots to last -- a joy to view.
This is a fine thing, because the film is a tad slow-moving until we get totally into it.
It opens with a beautiful, singing set piece of a young woman's mother dying.
It ends with that same woman leaning over to enjoy the fragrance of a flowering potato plant.
In between, the young woman undergoes an visually intoxicating journey from fears of the past to hopes of the future.
It's such a beautiful journey that, 24 hours after viewing it, this writer dreams of viewing it again. <!--more-->
"La teta asustada" is a story of fact and fable.
It's a fact that the young woman's mother was raped during warfare while she was pregnant with the young woman. It's a fact that the mother taught the young woman to create and sing little songs whenever she is frightened. It's also a fact that the young woman is frightened much of the time. She has taken drastic measures to overcome her biggest fear.
What is fable is that the young woman's fears were inherited from her mother by suckling that mother's breast milk.
The film is full of everyday scenes of how the poor live on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. It's also full of scenes that take place inside and on the grounds of "the big house" where the young woman has gone to work as the night maid.
"La teta asustada" is full of native Peruvian ceremonial courtship and wedding customs, beautiful Peruvian song and music, and exquisitely composed shots of the Peruvian landscape.
Overriding it all, however, is the tangible, taste-able sadness and fear of the young woman. Over the course of 94 gorgeous minutes, that sadness and fear is gently, soulfully left behind, at the seashore, in a hospital operating room, and at the hands of a gentle gardener who comes to see the beauty in the wonderful simplicity of a flowering potato plant.
As with all of our most rewarding film experiences, it's difficult to put into words all the emotions and images this film releases in the heart of its viewers.
Once you've seen "La teta asustada," however, simple things like pearls, potatoes, sand, and stairways will never look the same to you again. Don't deny yourself these sad, simple, beautiful pleasures
(Rating: 3 by A.J. Malouin.) (See our side-bar page "How We Rate Movies" at www.What-To-See-Next.com)
(2009/Spain/Peru. Directed by Claudia Llosa.) Here's a film that could sustain its Best-Foreign-Film Academy-Award nomination on the basis of its cinematography alone. Beautiful in composition and execution, "La teta asustada" ["The Milk of Sorrow"] is -- from first shots to last -- a joy to view.
This is a fine thing, because the film is a tad slow-moving until we get totally into it.
It opens with a beautiful, singing set piece of a young woman's mother dying.
It ends with that same woman leaning over to enjoy the fragrance of a flowering potato plant.
In between, the young woman undergoes an visually intoxicating journey from fears of the past to hopes of the future.
It's such a beautiful journey that, 24 hours after viewing it, this writer dreams of viewing it again. <!--more-->
"La teta asustada" is a story of fact and fable.
It's a fact that the young woman's mother was raped during warfare while she was pregnant with the young woman. It's a fact that the mother taught the young woman to create and sing little songs whenever she is frightened. It's also a fact that the young woman is frightened much of the time. She has taken drastic measures to overcome her biggest fear.
What is fable is that the young woman's fears were inherited from her mother by suckling that mother's breast milk.
The film is full of everyday scenes of how the poor live on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. It's also full of scenes that take place inside and on the grounds of "the big house" where the young woman has gone to work as the night maid.
"La teta asustada" is full of native Peruvian ceremonial courtship and wedding customs, beautiful Peruvian song and music, and exquisitely composed shots of the Peruvian landscape.
Overriding it all, however, is the tangible, taste-able sadness and fear of the young woman. Over the course of 94 gorgeous minutes, that sadness and fear is gently, soulfully left behind, at the seashore, in a hospital operating room, and at the hands of a gentle gardener who comes to see the beauty in the wonderful simplicity of a flowering potato plant.
As with all of our most rewarding film experiences, it's difficult to put into words all the emotions and images this film releases in the heart of its viewers.
Once you've seen "La teta asustada," however, simple things like pearls, potatoes, sand, and stairways will never look the same to you again. Don't deny yourself these sad, simple, beautiful pleasures