Sundance 2009: ROUGH AUNTIES Review

Last week in Park City, I was privileged to attend a screening of ROUGH AUNTIES, the latest FILM from documentary veteran Kim Longinotto (HOLD ME TIGHT, LET ME GO; SISTERS IN LAW, etc.).  this observational piece follows the women OF Operation Bobbi Bear in Durban, South Africa over a 10-week period: Jackie, Mildred, Studia, Thull, and Eureka, hard-nosed and courageous women who have dedicated their lives to helping the abused and neglected children of the region.

First off, lemme just say, wow, only 10 weeks?  The ladies deal with so much tragedy over this period that I'm left with a hopeless feeling for the world.  Multiple rapes, a murder, a drowning and the abandonment of a child are just a few of the scenarios that the tough-skinned women must face during this two month period.  We witness both the worst and the best of people, all in a very short window.  

The opening scene throws us directly into the world of Bobbi Bear as Mildred, a thirty-something South African native, kindly, but systematically, gathers information from a child victim of rape.  Mildred shares a teddy bear with the child and asks her to describe the incident by placing band-aids on the parts of the bear where she was violated.  We, the audience, sit on the floor right in the midst of the discussion.  The film pulls no punches.  It is an extremely delicate situation that is a testament to not only Mildred's professionalism and courage, but also to that of the filmmaker.  

It is completely amazing and inspiring to watch the women work and the extreme lengths to which they go to protect the children - from going on police raids, to cleaning up crime scenes, to offering up their own money and homes.  This is true dedication; a job that most folks just wouldn't be able to do.  Longinotto's complete access allows us to see and deal with the entire picture of their lives, even when the picture is not one that we want to see.

This film can be very hard to watch due to it's unwavering and unbiased look into such tough subject matter, but it definitely should be seen.  While I wasn't able to watch all of the World Cinema Competition titles during my short time in Park City, I can say that it doesn't surprise me that ROUGH AUNTIES won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize.

Editor's Note - Nathan Truesdell is my filmmaking compatriot on both of my current feature projects.  This is his first contribution to the blog.  Full disclosure: Paul Taylor, one of the producers of ROUGH AUNTIES, is one of the filmmakers who worked with Nathan and I on our CONVENTION project.

Comments

[Raztus]

Nathan, this is a great description of the documentary. I find myself struggling to describe it and my opinion as I am still processing what I saw. I was deeply moved and in awe of these ordinary ladies doing extraordinary things in dire circumstances.

I am also impressed with the body of work that Paul and Teddy are creating, is this social activism by documentary? If so, where do I sign up?

[Ariel Climer]

I just saw this movie as well at a women's film festival in Brattleboro, VT. I am rarely so moved in a theatre. The film especially touched me because I watched it in a room full of all women. No men! We cried together and laughed, and I thought to myself, these women, though perhaps not as frequently, have been through these same experiences. It's hard to find a woman who doesn't know someone who has been abused. I always think it's funny when documentary ethics might tell us to avoid certain things, because sometimes when the filmmaker chooses to show them, we are surprised by how not surprised we are. In the theater, amidst such difficult imagery, I felt at ease to allow my emotions to come out. This film should continue to be shown to women and men. Social justice in filmmaking is often about advocating for each other and painting a humanity that spans space and time. We are lucky to have seen this film.