VENEZIA.66

desert flower

di Sherry Hormann
Germania/Austria/Francia 2009, 120'

Giornate degli Autori

27/30

When I started watching Desert Flower, a Sherry Hormann’s film based on the bestselling novel by a super model Waris Dirie, I expected it to be just an entertaining, modern fairy-tale which, though it has nothing new or important to say, I would definitely enjoy. How positively surprised I was when this movie not only turned out to be a breathtaking story but also touched me deeply.

Waris Dirie’s life seems to have a lot to do with a fairytale indeed, but, in fact, these are only appearances. In reality, her existence has always been marked by a terrible secret from her childhood. When she was only five she was a victim of a female genital mutilation (FGM), which still remains one of the common practices in Africa and in some other parts of the world (according to the UN reports, around 6000 girls fall victim to this inhuman cruelty every single day). This is why even though she became a top model and made a fortune she’s never forgotten where she comes from and she has sacrificed her life for fighting against this form of cruelty against women.
It’s not a debut for a top model Liya Kebede whose performance is brilliant and whose beauty is really outstanding. But she’s not only another pretty face. There’s something in her eyes, in her look that makes us believe she’s going to be a great actress.
Sally Hawkins, known for her marvelous role in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky is both interesting and funny as a sales assistant who dreams of being a ballet dancer and who saves Dirie’s life offering her a shelter: a room in a boarding house she stays in. These two women have created a perfect and exotic duet and it was a real pleasure watching them together on the screen.
What’s truly amazing in Hormann’s movie is how it manages to change the mood, how you never know what to expect. From the hot African desert she takes you to the crowded streets of London; then from the international runway back to Somali where you are a witness of a little girl being brutally circumcised.
This horrifying act that you’re trying not to watch and not to hear since its cruelty is killing you, is everyday reality of thousands of young girls, both Muslims and Christians. Some of them die. Some of them stay alive but suffer from an unbearable pain during the rest of their lives, just like Waris did before having an operation. Fortunately, Desert Flower drives our attention to this problem and forces us to face it and at the same time makes the FGM a world-wide issue.
So, a truly moving story, great actors’ performance, amazing pictures and wonderful music- what else does it take to make a great movie? Nothing.
 

12:09:2009

66.ma mostra
le recensioni

Venezia, 02/12 settembre 2009