DVD Collectors Online

Faraw! Mother of the Dunes, a review by Danae Cassandra

Faraw!  Mother of the DunesOverview:
FARAW! recounts twenty-four hours in the life of a woman in Songhoi country. Zamiatou, the mother of three young children, is fighting for survival in a town in northeastern Mali, on the edge of the desert. Her husband is to weak to work and her children are exasperated by their situation of poverty. Life is very hard in this devastated, almost desolate region haunted by the specter of drought. Zamiatou endures many ordeals, refuses to put her daughter into prostitution and finally gets help from her old friend, Morou, who lends her a donkey and a few water skins....

My Thoughts:
A powerful and moving portrait of one woman's indomitable determination and strength of will. As George Monbiot once said, "If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire." Zamiatou is the embodiment of that quote. She isn't afraid of difficulty or hard labor. Indeed, that is her life and she accepts it. She is unwilling to take the easy (but morally repugnant) way out, but instead holds her head high and clings to her honor and her faith. If you don't admire her character by the end of the film, you have no soul.

The casual misogyny of her two sons toward their sister, and Zamiatou's acceptance of that, is less easy to accept, and mars this otherwise excellent film. That may be my Western bias speaking. I'm rather sad that no one else on Letterboxd has logged this film, as it's well worth seeing.

Bechdel Test: Pass

Overall: 3.5/5

(From March Around the World 2016 on March 15th, 2016)

X-Files - I want to Believe, a review by Rich

30/11

X-File - I want to Believe



The supernatural thriller is a stand-alone story in the tradition of some of the show's most acclaimed and beloved episodes, and takes the always-complicated relationship between Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully, the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder's pursuits.

Another trip to the cinema to end my marathon, and what a disappointment!
Sometimes you regret wishing for certain series to carry on forever, and this is the case with the x-files. This 'film' is just a feature length episode, low in quality, interest or appeal. Anderson is really showing her age now, and Mulder looked particularly uninterested. The drama and buzz between the 2 characters has been done to death and just doesn't work anymore. Lets hope X-Files gracefully retires at this point, I would rate 90% of series 1-4 episodes against this drivel.
(And the price of F******G popcorn these days!!!!!)
 


(From November Alphabet Marathon - Discussion/Review Thread on December 1st, 2008)

The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon, a review by Tom

01. From Hell (2008-11-21)
Writer: Graham Linehan (Writer)
Director: Graham Linehan
Cast: Chris O'Dowd (Roy), Richard Ayoade (Moss), Katherine Parkinson (Jen), Matt Berry (Douglas), Chris Morris (Denholm), Tom Binns (Nolan), Togo Igawa (Mr Yamamoto), Jonathan Ryland (Gary)

Great start to a new series. Everyone had a fun storyline.

Rating:

(From The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon on July 31st, 2009)