El cuaderno de Sara

I read another review, where the reviewer made a good point. It seems like the Western world needs someone the audience can root for. Someone they see and can feel and relate to. That person is our female protagonist in this case. And while that is more than a fair point, try not to let this get your focus of the main issues of the movie.

Genocide, hunger, murder, rape and a general abuse of power. But this does not give us a look into the higher powers who "control" this. We get to the ground, down and dirty and go on the look for our sister. Well the sister of the main actress that is. She was missing and now it seems like there is a glimmer of hope. Hope they can reunite and go back "home". But on her way, she finds a new friend. A friend that is troubled, but a friend is useful to her. Someone you should not judge prematurely or even with other moral standards than the ones he has to obey and live by. This may sound weird, but once you've seen it, you'll get it. A really well thought of movie, that takes its time (maybe a bit too long at times), but is really worth your time, if you have the faintest interest in the subject

For someone who has lived in the Congo, this story is as real as it gets. Some reviews find certain events unrealistic and far fetched but they have probably never been in a jungle in Africa

El cuaderno de Sara follows the story of a spanish lawyer that tracks down her sister, an aid worker, to a violent zone in the congo.

Once the film begins, you are reminded an awful lot of times that africa is a violent and complex place, very different to Madrid. Our main character seems completely incapable of walking the streets without getting lost or fade helplessly into the chaos, finding comfort only in white-abundant places like hotels and bars. I understand that this is the point of the character, she being naive and ignorant, but the movie ends with her being almost as ignorant as the beginning.

The movie has an abundance of opportunities to come to a profound realization, the whole arc of her sister revolves around this fact, but evades a closure for easier subjects. Cute selfies with black kids are nonstop, as are many other aid-tourism behaviors, and even when the conflict it depicts is similar to the reality of not just the congo but many mineral -rich places in Africa, they are never tied to existent names or events. Acting is Ok, and some shots are spectacular, but that is a cheap ploy to simply ignore the failure that is the story.

If you are really interested in learning about the subject, and in my opinion everyone should, you should watch Beasts of No Nation and The Siege of Jadotville both from Netflix. The later, even when is the account of a white group of soldiers fighting on behalf of the UN in the congo, does more to bring the actual causes and consequences of our thirst for minerals than this movie.

Motivated by the very mixed opinions and descriptions put forward by previous reviews, I wish to reframe this movie in what I believe to be, as a simple viewer, the correct context.

It seems to me that the obvious wish of the director is to bring to the screen the dire situation encountered in the Eastern Congo, for many years (decades) now, but that he does not wish to go totally over the top by showing the absolute full extent of the horror that has stricken that area of the world, presumably by fear of frightening the public. A lighter note is added by the story of two sisters, one of whom, established as a lawyer in Spain, sets out to find the trace of the younger sibling, working in an NGO in the Congo. At the same time, this gives what inevitably will be a predominantly western audience a number of characters to identify with.

The setting is borrowed from a very real situation, and a very real insurgent - or terror - operation lead in the 2000's by Laurent Nkunda. Barely disguised under the false name N'gunda, all the elements that characterized the reign of terror of Nkunda's group are brought to the screen, in a mix that gives the average viewer an idea of what went on there, without frightening her or him away - the real truth is simply too appalling to be portrayed frontally. The lead character should simply be seen as the narrator, the guide who leads the viewer through all this.

Remember that this is a movie, and that a director is free to portray what he or she wants. It therefore does not matter whether Laura's travels sometimes border on the irrealistic or luck or circumstance play too large a role in the plot. That is just entirely besides the point, since Laura is basically our "tour guide". I feel that the movie fits well with works of a similar character, notably "Cry Freedom", which, even though called a masterpiece, was fraught with much the same weaknesses. In "Sara's notebook", the director makes a very clear and laudable effort to portray the country, its circumstances, and the action as accurately as he can, given the means at hand.

In all, the director succeeds rather well. I would tend to dismiss accusations of racism read in other reviews. Being a western director, and having chosen to film from a western, european vantage point, certain prejudices are inevitable. It should however, be recognized that these are part of our western, european, point of view and inbred behaviour and set of reactions. That is just the way things are, and the author shows it. Nothing wrong with that. The most poignant is of course the fact that the Uruguayan UN soldiers (accurately portrayed) refuse aid to congolese nationals who need it most. Yes, institutional racism, or a necessity imposed by local circumstances, pushed to the extreme ? I do not pretend or permit myself to judge, I merely admit that the resulting picture looks realistic.

So, go have a look for yourself, and tell me what you think.

The story had a chance to be enthralling. It missed, but not badly. A story of a disastrous Central African drug/diamond/or in this case minerals human tragedy is compelling on its own. This movie also tries to throw in a sibling re-unification thread, which I found lacking. The story of the sister and her young African guide/translator was the star interaction of the movie. However; as with so many movies, the overuse of dramatic shootings and narrow escapes becomes nearly comical. Our heroine is shot at a thousand times, is surrounded numerous times, and ambushed a few more times for good measure. We even get car chases and plane disasters. It was as if the director wanted to make "James Bond goes to an African civil war." I still liked the movie. The acting was solid and they did capture the feel of living in Africa in the 21st Century.