User Reviews

Complete waste of time: an indie-film with heart of gold and also with all the weaknesses of amateur film making: empty dialogue, young sleepwalking actors, very slow narration. No technical flaws, though.

I saw this film as part of the AfricaFest-series in Tampere. I would really like to love a movie with such good intentions, but the story of exploitation and hopeless dreams of poor people has been told too many times with exactly the same crime plot elements.

The only reason to watch this film is the amazingly multi ethnic milieu of Mauritius. If the story of four young people had been told in 20 minutes, this film might fulfill its purpose as docufiction. But with 90 minutes...

Very powerful and devastating story of a 17 year-old girl growing up in a poor "banlieue" on Mauritius (French island, in the Indian Ocean). Based on a novel by Ananda Devi. Dark, poetic, violent (but not voyeuristically so). Full of psychological and socio-psychological insight, reflections on how to make a meaningful life, or at least how to strive for human dignity, in the most desperate of situations, or whether this is even possible. Beautiful.

All the actors are non-professionals; this is only the third full-length film produced in Mauritius. Incredible performance by the protagonist, in the role of Eve.

The film is directed by Harrikrisna Anenden and his son Shavan, with a script by the director's wife who is herself a renowned novelist and poet, author of a dozen or so well-received works. Although the novel is told from four separate points of view, for cinematographic purposes this has been completely reworks and the story is a deftly interwoven, polyphonic tale. It should perhaps also be mentioned that the film reflects the complex ethnic and linguistic mix of Mauritius.