elisa-matteoni The film is settled in 1950s South Africa while black people are persecuted by the white ones. Amina is a free and independent woman who runs a café' together with a coloured friend who is barred from owning any kind of business because of the colour of his skin. For this reason the girl is always on the front line helping persecuted people, and hiding them from the police. Instead Miriam is a wife with two children and an husband, Omar, whose sister married a white guy against the law that forbid mixed marriage. This is an absorbing history that handles different social pathologies. At the same time it talks about an unexpected love story that relieves from the pressure of the apartheid, theme that is the common thread of all the stories told.

a666333 For anyone looking for an innovative or breakthrough film here, look elsewhere. This is a formula film with a capital F and you can predict its progress in the first 3 minutes or so. Sometimes that is OK if the ride is exceptional. This time it is so-so. The upside: Good if standard cinematography/camera work and editing, believable sets. The subplot with the white bank employee and the mixed race cafe owner is more interesting and suspenseful than the main plot. The downside: This comes from just how much this film relies on cookie-counter elements. No white or Indian male (save one who appears briefly) or conventionally minded woman is allowed to have a redeemable feature. They are quickly established as people that you will not have sympathy for. Likewise the setting in institutionally suppressive South Africa 1952 is just sooo perfect to inject a touch of brutality and righteous indignation and a hint of a political edge to a very tired story line. This sets the stage for the predatory/touristy lesbian tomboy to enlighten the frustrated housewife. Yawn.... Then we get the blues-jazz piano intro, some poetry, endless, furtive longing glances, the questioning of values and life goals, the symbolic-suggestive one liners, the moments of crisis, the resolution and the folk song over the ending credits. All formula. Been there, done that.

lastliberal Before I Can't Think Straight, there was this film. Both were written and directed by Shamim Sarif, and starred Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth - a combination that assures excellence.In a background of oppression in South Africa in 1952, we view a struggle for personal freedom.Amina (Sheth) wants to be free to live her life as a lesbian without bigotry. Miriam (Ray) wants to be free of a demanding and philandering husband. Jacon (David Dennis), a half-black wants to love a white woman (Grethe Fox).We can only assume that it works out for two of the three characters, and that will have to satisfy us.

salgreco I too, saw "The World Unseen" at the Toronto International Film Festival. What a lovely film, and a wonderful story which unfolds in a loving and natural way. A superb cast helmed by a talented director. I was also especially struck by the song during the end credits. This was an absolutely magnificent song sung with such clarity and feeling that it seemed to captivate everyone in the theatre. (No one left the theatre during the end credits - people sat back down to hear the entire song, and that was the first time I saw this happen in my 45 years of movie-going). I have a feeling that we'll be hearing more from this singer/songwriter, Leonie Casanova.