Reviews

One of the key discoveries in my life is that for me and for many of my women friends, our friendship is often the most wonderful gift of life. This movie celebrates friendship among women. It relates two stories of women in China whose friendship is signed as a contract, a laotong. Laotong, the movie explains, is a life-long relationship between women, often considered more important than marriage. The movie presents two young friends in Shanghai in the 21st century who celebrate a laotong. Their friendship is portrayed with the closeness, empathy and support that is well known about friendship among women. And it also presents the difficulties and distances that are very real and perhaps unavoidable in close relationships. In a similar way, the movie presents two 19th century women who had had a laotong in very different circumstances and for whom the friendship is also both a marvelous gift and a difficult relationship. Movies are often about relations between a man and a women but seldom about women friends. That is why this movie seems to be controversial. It is not always accepted that for women their women friends are their most rewarding relationships despite the complicated faces of any human partnership. Go see the movie. It shows a side of women's life that is amazingly real but poorly understood.

Most movies about the Second World War and the Holocaust show the massive killings of Jews by the Germans. This movie shows the French participation in the holocaust and it shows it with intense analysis of how it affected two women: Sarah a young girl who leaves her brother in a closet assuming she can come back to get him and a journalist who is researching the story years later and discovers how her own family was involved in war issues. Sarah's story is well presented, with the most tragic and sad events of her young life and how they affected her later life. Its a well told story that allows the viewer to see the war and its effects on a lovely and courageous young women. The journalist's story shows how even those who want to know about the war find it difficult to put the pieces together. And it also shows how traumatic it is for the people who try to piece it together. The message is that the holocaust affected us all in different ways but those who lived at the time and those who suffered deportation, even if they did not encounter death, were deeply wounded in more ways than is imaginable. I recommend this movie. Its scenes, music and the flow of events are wonderful. You are always with the story. And the analysis of the human suffering and the wounds of the war are very well portrayed. and in more ways that any one of us will ever be able to understand.

A true story of women trafficking while the United Nations and its peace keepers ignore the problem and even deny it. The movie is excellent at giving the viewer the sense that those in command do not care when women are trafficked, slaved and prostituted. It is a real story and it is portrayed with a realism that is captivating. You live the story minute by minute and you get involved in the traumatic experience of The Whistleblower, her desperation and sadness are very well portrayed. A must be seen....to understand the horrors of war and the capacity that commanders have to ignore the problems. Bosnia was not a place that attracted a lot of attention. Massive killings took place while the world looked else where. Perhaps because it has no oil, or because it is a Muslim country, the media ignored the war. And now we see how the media also ignored the reality of that war and the misbehavior of its commanders. Can something be done at this stage? Can we still learn lessons??

I recommend this movie. The story, the production, the casting and the film techniques are wonderful. The story is easy to follow and entertaining and at the same time it presents a portray of real life that is full of complications. A young women writer approaches the difficult task of presenting the lives of the "help" in a southern town from the perspective of "the help." A group of rich ladies who like and dislike each other are presented as real life persons who need to carry out expected roles with aggravation, with respect and with lack of respect in their interactions with the help. You feel like you were there seeing the story develop but at the same time the movie allows you to be critical of the reality of the time. The southern ladies are portrayed in a manner that shows their pros and cons. They are the well dressed, dedicated wives who have to have a perfect home and at the same time they are the daughters and wives of less than perfect family members. The maids are hard working, dedicated, and they love the children they care for but at the same time they feel trapped and it is hard for them to be loyal to their bosses. The movie manages to show several sides of the same story with a nicely flowing rhythm that is captivating and does not allow the viewer a brake. You are in the movie for a whole two hours.