Dir: Atiq Rahimi | Cast: Main cast: Santa Amanda Mugabekazi, Albina Sydney Kirenga, Angel Uwamahoro, Clariella Bizimana, Belinda Rubango Simbi, Ange Elsie Ineza, Kelly Umuganwa Teta, Pascal Greggory, Carole Trévoux | France, Belgium, Rwanda | 93′
Afghan filmmaker Atiq Rahimi follows his sensuous story about perseverance The Patience Stone with another female centric story, this time exploring the cultural diversities between Rwanda’s Tutsi and Hutu population seen through the story of a girls’ boarding school in the tropical jungles of the region.
Based on Scholastique Mukasonga’s award-winning 2012 novel Our Lady of the Nile: Rwanda 1973, this is a compelling and often terrifying cautionary tale of inter-ethnic racism that echoes the violent conflict that seethed in the region during 1994. It all takes place in a strict Rwandan boarding school where well-to-do girls are indoctrinated with a Catholic-infused curriculum. But there are also local witch doctors a work in the region, and even Egyptian Black Pharoahs, so Catholicism has to compete with these other beliefs. Rahimi is clearly trying to expose organised religion for what it is, as it jostles with long-held cultural dogmas. But rather than offering a political treatise he opts for a non-judgemental approach, creating the heady atmosphere where the privileged are poised to take their rightful place in society. The girls have evocative names: Gloriosa, Immaculée and Modesta. And although this is a school for Hutus, a small number Tutsis are routinely admitted. Most of them are Hutus, but a small quota is reserved for the elegantly graceful Tutsi students:Veronica (Clariella Bizimana) and her friend Virginia (Amanda Santa Mugabekazi) who capture the imagination of a local plantation owner and Frenchman Monsieur Fontenaille (Pascal Greggory). He inveigles them into his property where he claims there is an Egyptian temple that may appeal to their ancestral leanings. Rahimi’s intentions are clearly worthwhile and while he views his material with compassion and thoughtfulness, not enough attention is given to the characterisation in a script co-written with Ramata Sy. Our Lady of the Nile nevertheless provides a stylishly captured and atmospheric story from this troubled part of the world. MT
MARRAKECH FILM FESTIVAL 2019
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