kmethi

A gem of a short film on Amazon Prime. The film is set in Mali and London, and captures in a stark and humane way one of the reasons people migrate to the West. I had little knowledge of the civil war in Mali and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the country until I saw this film. Some of the younger actors are superb.

This is one of my all-time favorite films for all the reasons identified by other reviewers. Until recently, I had only seen the 154 minute version, which was released in theaters and on DVD. I just saw the original, uncut version, which is 193 minutes long, and it is markedly superior. Not only does it fill in many of the gaps that make the shorter version seem somewhat disjointed, it has several brilliant scenes that had me shaking my head wondering why they were cut from the theatrical/DVD release. I understand that Jia Zhangke is working on a director's cut of the film, which will hopefully do some necessary trimming, but also restore these scenes.

Notwithstanding the fact that The Lady is entertaining and watchable, it lacks any feeling of authenticity. I guess that this is not surprising given that the director and screenwriter are both Westerners, and the lead is played by a non-Burmese actress. The scenes involving the Burmese generals are unintentionally funny - every time they appear on screen "Darth Vader" music starts playing, and they are hilariously one-dimensional. Interesting, the film also has several product placements for U2 (a song, a t-shirt, etc.). I saw this film at the Toronto International Film Festival and was half-expecting Bono to walk out with the Luc Besson for the Q&A.