Tom Dooley
Set in 1996 near Addis Abeba, Ethiopia at the age of fourteen, Hirut gets abducted after school by a gang of horseman. She is taken away as is the custom to be married to her abductor. They beat and abuse her and she decides to escape, but in doing so she manages to kill the would be husband.The 'customs courts' dictates that a life for a life should be the case but from the start this is not an ordinary case but the law seems to be blind to the mitigating circumstances. Measza is a pro bono lawyer working for an organisation that helps the vulnerable of society and she decides to take on the case; this is their story.Now this is based on real events and was produced by Angelina Jolie. It is all very well acted, filmed, directed and has a pacing that means you will not get bored. The story as a resonance that comes with all stories of injustice and as such – some have found it to be 'unoriginal'. However, I found this to be compelling and rewarding. It is in Amharic and sub titled in English with a run time of 99 minutes. I saw this described as 'arthouse' but I would place this firmly under the genre of drama and think this will appeal to lovers of World cinema and those who like a story told plain with all ambiguity forgotten – recommended.
Rahul Patil
A bright 14-year-old girl is on her way home from school when men on horses swoop in and kidnap her. But brave Hirut (Tizita Hagere) grabs a rifle and tries to escape, but ends up shooting her captor. Meaza Ashenafi (Meron Getnet), a woman lawyer, arrives from the city to represent Hirut and argue that she acted in self-defense. Meaza embarks on a collision course between enforcing civil authority and abiding customary law, risking the work of her women's legal-aid practice to save Hirut's life. Based on a true story, the film brings to the forefront the immoral patriarchal culture of Ethiopia where the tradition is to kidnap girls to marry them. It also informs of the efforts of the gradual change brought on through progressive court laws. There are from time to time slow and dramatic overstatements, scenes that make the film 'filmy' like cranking up the score during the initial abduction of Hirut or diffusing the tension of a car chase by exiting the scene with a fade to black not long after it begins. To make the film look real everything in it is spelled out through dialogues and nothing is nuanced reducing the hangover from the movie. However, "Difret" is an undeniably powerful unpacking one of the ugliest stories imaginable making it worth your time and thought.
skinsk-1
I just caught a screening at the Jeonju International Film Festival in Korea, and I was very impressed. It was a riveting, well-edited and well-acted film about a primitive misogynistic mindset that is responsible for the abuse and deaths of women around the world. Based on a true story (probably one of the few with a relatively positive outcome) and filmed on location with an Ethiopian director and cast, Difret is educational and thought-provoking. I wish the director the best of luck bringing more material like this to the attention of the world. WELL DONE! And I recommend this film to anyone who has the opportunity to see it and support it!
yox1408
It means a lot For Ethiopian Cinema that this Film wins at sundace film festival Cause more directors can tackle this kinds of big issues in the country & i wanna say Congrats to mr.Zeresenay for his achievement & Being an inspiration for other Ethiopian and African directors .........next i want to see him to work on projects like ....emperor Minilik(The Ethiopian King Who defeat the Italian army Without Gun) & more ....Hope you don't take long time to come back.....also i want to say thanks To ANJELINA JOLIE for being one the producers in this foreign film The Acting in this film is Excellent specially Meron Getnet did a nice job.The flow & Vibe of this movie is very good
AD
