Here is a rare occasion to hear Amharic on the silver screen. Yes, a film from Ethiopia. It is not, as one could expect, an ethnological story. It is about customs, about traditions, but also about life under the conditions of global climate change, but also about coming of age, becoming emancipated from the boundaries of traditional life. We get aquainted with life in Africa from the inside.
Ephraim and his father live in poverty. Ephraim's mother died recently because of the drought. There are few chances to survive in that village. The father tries to find a job in the nearest city. Therefore he places he Ephraim and his pet lamb with another branch of the family. Ephraim is half-Jewish, the family is Christian and soon there will some religious celebration. Solomon, Ephraim's new step father, wants to make a stew of the lamb - Ephraim's last connection with his mother. Ephraim likes cooking, an occupation that is not fit for men in that society. Instead Solomon wants him to be trained as farmer, but Ephraim is not really gifted for this kind of work. There is another cousin, Tsio, who fights her own battle against gender roles. She has already passed the age to get married and she is an avid reader. She wants to know why the generation of grandparents and parents had more to eat. She has also knowledge that the droughts are not random fancies by God. At the end the grandmother, a SHE figure with a whip for instant punishment opens for ways to loosen up machismo.
Lamb is a nice film. It is very slow, which corresponds to the story. We see beautiful landscapes, watch the life on the market square and follow the doings in a village. All this is not shown for its own sake, but is part of the plot. The manuscript is at times a bit clumsy, especially at the end the narrative is a bit over hedge and ditch. However,it is still a very enjoyable film that tells how to come of age in a oppressive environment.
6/10
Ephraim and his father live in poverty. Ephraim's mother died recently because of the drought. There are few chances to survive in that village. The father tries to find a job in the nearest city. Therefore he places he Ephraim and his pet lamb with another branch of the family. Ephraim is half-Jewish, the family is Christian and soon there will some religious celebration. Solomon, Ephraim's new step father, wants to make a stew of the lamb - Ephraim's last connection with his mother. Ephraim likes cooking, an occupation that is not fit for men in that society. Instead Solomon wants him to be trained as farmer, but Ephraim is not really gifted for this kind of work. There is another cousin, Tsio, who fights her own battle against gender roles. She has already passed the age to get married and she is an avid reader. She wants to know why the generation of grandparents and parents had more to eat. She has also knowledge that the droughts are not random fancies by God. At the end the grandmother, a SHE figure with a whip for instant punishment opens for ways to loosen up machismo.
Lamb is a nice film. It is very slow, which corresponds to the story. We see beautiful landscapes, watch the life on the market square and follow the doings in a village. All this is not shown for its own sake, but is part of the plot. The manuscript is at times a bit clumsy, especially at the end the narrative is a bit over hedge and ditch. However,it is still a very enjoyable film that tells how to come of age in a oppressive environment.
6/10
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