Tag: inspirational

HIVE – SLIFF Review

Yllka Gashi as Fahrije in HIVE, which will be shown at the 2021 St. Louis International Film Festival, Photo credit Alexander Bloom.

A triple winner at Sundance and Kosovo’s official submission for the Oscars, HIVE is one of several outstanding international films featured at this year’s St Louis International Film Festival.

Writer/director Blerta Bashollo’s HIVE is her feature film debut. The moving drama about women in Kosovo struggling in the aftermath of war is based on a true story about one of the many women left in limbo when their husbands disappeared during the war. Fahrije (Yllka Gashi) continues her endless search for her missing husband, showing up as mass graves or buried clothing are found periodically by aid workers, but with little hope of finding him. At the same time, she also struggles to support her two children and her wheelchair-bound father-in-law by tending the beehives her husband once cared for, while her elderly father-in-land sells the honey at the local market, But the bees are not as productive now in the devastated landscape, and sales of honey bring a meager income for the family.

Fahrije also works for a local organization that tries to help other women in her small village, women and families left in the same limbo by missing husbands and fathers. As long as their deaths are not confirmed, the women are not widows, although in practical terms they are. As long as there is the chance their husbands might be alive, she and the other widows face harsh restrictions in the male-dominated traditional culture of her village, including vehement opposition to learning to drive or having a job.

Despite these threats, the desperate Fahrije starts a home-based food business, making a popular local condiment of peppers for a grocery store in a nearby city. The little business faces angry backlash from the men in the village and vicious gossip, but it also gives her and the other widows a means to survive, and hope.

HIVE is a touching, inspiring drama about the power of sisterhood, filled with fine performances, particularly by star Yllka Gashi, and an insightful glimpse into another culture and an inspiring look at a world of women enduring and succeeding under tough circumstances. One of the best touches in this uplifting drama are the shots of the real Fahrije shown with with the end credits.

HIVE, in Albanian with English subtitles, plays SLIFF on Nov. 5 at 1pm and Nov. 6 at 7pm at the Tivoli Theater. See the SLIFF website, https://www.cinemastlouis.org/sliff/festival-home, for tickets and other information. Covid procedures are in place, so all audience members must show proof of Covid vaccination and wear masks.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

BREATHE – Review

(l -r) Hugh Bonneville stars as Teddy Hall, Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield as Diana and Robin Cavendish, Harry Marcus as their son Jonathan (age 10) and Tom Hollander as David Blacker in BREATHE, a Bleecker Street and Participant Media release.Credit: David Bloomer / Bleecker Street | Participant Media

Everyone wants to live life as they chose but in the 1950s, options were severely limited for someone paralyzed. At that time, paralysis usually meant a short life, confined to a hospital on a stationary breathing machine or in an iron lung. Being on a respirator meant not even being able to get about in a wheelchair. Robin Cavendish did not want that life, and thanks to his wife and friends, he did not have to live that way.

BREATHE tells the true story of Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield), who was paralyzed by polio at age 28, and his steadfast wife Diana (Claire Foy). The true story is Oscar-bait, inspirational, even amazing, and features a performance by Andrew Garfield likely to cement his position as a major star, if not earn him an Oscar nomination. The film is the directorial debut of Andy Serkis, the motion-capture actor who has been amazing us all since he appeared as Golem in the LORD OF THE RINGS series. However, the film itself is not as ground-breaking as the people it is about, but is a model of conventional British historical film making, with pretty golden light photography, lovely period details, and stiff-upper-lip characters who embody the upper class ideal of “carry on.”

British ex-army officer Robin Cavendish (Garfield) meets aristocratic Diana Blacker (Claire Foy) at a cricket match. The two are from classically British upper crust backgrounds but Cavendish is not well-off. Diana’s twin brothers, both played by Tom Hollander, try to talk her out of it, but Diana is in love, marries Robin and moves to Africa to live out a happy life as a tea broker’s wife. But as the couple awaits the birth of their first child, fate intervenes in the form of polio, which leaves 28-year-old Robin permanently paralyzed from the neck down.

BREATHE is being promoted as a romance, and it is that partly, but mostly it is a tale of indomitable spirit and the good luck of having very creative, brilliantly gifted friends. The couple is lucky in that neither Diana or their newborn son catch the disease but they are still forced to give up their beloved farm in Africa and return to England. Doctors caution Diana that Robin will only live a couple of years in the hospital on a ventilator. Robin does not even want to do that. Resourceful Diana is determined to give Robin as much of a life as possible, and along with some inventive friends, particularly engineer/inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), start inventing ways to do that. Their innovations leave a legacy that transforms the future for all people facing life with paralysis.

Garfield’s performance as Cavendish, a vibrant, active young man whose life plan is derailed by polio, is good enough to start Oscar nomination rumors. The film’s subject is both remarkable and inspiring subject, spotlighting a little-known story of determination and creativity that gave hope to others. The film’s lush period beauty may put it in line for an Oscar nod for art direction.

 

While the story of Cavendish and the heroic efforts of his wife and friends on his behalf, are inspirational and heart-warming, the film’s relentlessly plucky, what-what, upper-crust British optimism begins to wear and feel a bit forced as the film rolls on. Even when the family finds itself stranded on a remote Spanish road, with a broken breathing machine, no one seems very worried and turns it into a party. Nothing dampens the its-all-a-great-adventure spirit, which maybe accurate picture of the couple’s life view but seems a bit loony at times.

Still, it is an inspiring true story, and scenes like where doctors in a German hospital proudly shows off their state-of-the art room full of gleaming iron lungs are a striking illustration of how much Cavendish’s friends changed things for all paralyzed people. Cavendish had enormous luck in the friends that surrounded him who wanted to keep inventing new ways to improve his quality of life and mobility. We should all hope for such friends. Towards the end, the film veers to tearful, and can be a bit hard to watch.

BREATHE is an inspirational, romantic crowd-pleaser of a film about a couple who refused to accept things as they were and transformed the future for others.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

STEP – Review

Tayla Solomon and the “Lethal Ladies of BLYSW”. Photo by Jay L. Clendenin. Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

The inspirational documentary STEP follows a girls’ step dance team at a Baltimore charter high school, both in their quest to win a big step dance competition and to get into college.

The story takes place in 2015, the shadow of the unrest and protests that gripped Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, and the documentary has echoes of Ferguson and Black Lives Matter as well. All of the girls in this documentary are African-American and low-income, but they are lucky in one way: their high school, which has a staff devoted to their success, Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women was founded in 2009 as a small girls-only high school with the mission to get every one of its low-income students into college.

Director Amanda Lipitz’s film centers on the high school’s step team, a form of percussive dance historically linked to African-American sororities and fraternities. The film spotlights three girls in particular, as they prepare for a step competition, complete their senior year, and apply for college.

That premise may sound like BRING IT ON but the Lipitz’s true story is more heart-tugging and uplifting than the familiar narrative suggests. STEP debuted at Sundance earlier this year, to positive reviews and warm audience response. Lipitz, a Baltimore native, offers a surprisingly enjoyable story of struggle, obstacles, determination and ambition sure to pull in an audience.

The documentary singles out three girls, Blessin Giraldo, Cori Grainger, and Tayla Solomon, but also puts a spotlight on two educators, the coach of the step team, Gari McIntyre, and their college adviser, Paula Dofat.

The girls are all attractive and personable, so it is easy to root for their success, both in winning the step competition and getting into the college of their choice. The film gives us time with each girl’s family, with their coach and college adviser, and often lets the girls speak for themselves. But what we see little of are other pressures the girls face – in the classroom, among peers, or in their neighborhoods.

At first, it seems success is assured for all three but as the documentary unfolds, cracks emerge in that facade as the girls struggle with family and relationship issues, and one girl in particular seems really at risk. The girls talk a good game but conversations with the adults indicate not all is as smooth as the girls’ brave, think-positive talk would suggest.

Blessin is the co-founder of the step team, a beautiful, charismatic young woman with poise and positive attitude. She looks to have all the elements for success but she has a troubled family situation, with an unreliable mother who has her own issues with violence. Blessin has big dreams about college but more trouble focusing on the more immediate goal of keeping up with school work.

The documentary spends a bit more time on Blessin’s story but also spotlights time to the other two. Cori is proud of her perfect grades and has her heart set on attending Johns Hopkins. But with no money, winning a full-ride scholarship is her only chance. Tayla seems the shy one, working hard in school and on the team, but embarrassed by her mother’s big outgoing personality and nonstop cheering for her only child. As a guard at prison, Tayla’s mother knows how important her daughter’s success is but sometimes comes on too strong.

Audiences cannot help but pull for these girls and admire their efforts but what more impressive is the school support. Both the coach and the college adviser give these girls constant help and direction, both cheering them on and pulling them aside when needed. They are there to pick the girls up when they fall, or to correct their course when they waver. It is ultimately up to the girls, but these two educators never quit, refusing to give up on the girls even in the face of an unreliable parent. These two are the kind of teachers one would wish for all students, but which we too rarely find.

As the dates of both the step competition and graduation approach, the documentary focuses more on the quest to get into college – and the challenge of paying for it – than on the dance routines. By the film’s end, Lipitz brings the two threads together, the goals of winning the step contest and getting into college, in an uplifting ending.

The girls’ journey touches our hearts but the real inspirational story is that of these two dedicated educators, who are the true heroes of STEP.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars