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Filmmakers Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson, composer Roman Molino Dunn, and YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY director, Amjad Abu Alala, join Tom Needham on the next SOUNDS OF FILM.
THE PEOPLE VS. AGENT ORANGE shows that the Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the Vietnam War. The herbicide still wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births, illnesses and deadly cancers. Sixty years later, the world over, 2,4,-D, a primary component of the toxic defoliant, still controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks, even on children s playgrounds.
After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.
Mustafa Shehata in You Will Die at Twenty. (Courtesy Film Movement)
One of the few upsides to area arthouses going virtual is that bookings are no longer dictated by the requirements of a physical space. I’m not sure that in normal times “You Will Die at Twenty” could pull enough patrons to warrant a regular engagement on the Brattle’s single screen. But online screenings allow for multiple, more adventurous options, so thanks to the Brattlite we’ve got a chance to check out this remarkable debut film from writer-director Amjad Abu Alala, Sudan’s first-ever submission to the Academy Awards and (according to the press notes) only the eighth motion picture to be made in that country. Don’t be put off by the awful title, it’s actually an enormously life-affirming piece of work a wryly funny folk tale of innocence and experience. It’s a film about navigating the space between worldliness and godliness, illustrating how like the old country song goes sometimes y
Monday, 25 January, 2021 - 06:00
A shot from “You Will Die at Twenty” New York - Devika Girish
In his debut feature, Amjad Abu Alala deepens a fable-like premise into a lyrical confrontation with the certitudes of faith and the life-giving powers of doubt.
A folk tale turns existential in “You Will Die at Twenty,” the rapturous debut feature by the Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala.
In a sun-dappled village by the Nile, a holy sheikh tells Sakina (Islam Mubarak) that her newborn son, Muzamil, will live only two decades. The prophecy becomes too heavy a cross for their family to bear: Muzamil’s father soon abandons them, admitting softly to Sakina that he isn’t as strong as her.
Set in a remote Sudanese village where religion and prophecy are valuable currencies,
You Will Die at Twenty beautifully examines misguided notions of faith. After giving birth to her first baby, Sakina (Islam Mubarak) visits the local Sheikh for a formal blessing. Instead of hearing promising words about the child’s bright future, she receives a dire omen: the boy will die on his 20
th birthday.
Shockwaves of gossip spread as the entire village mints this premonition as tragic inevitability. Sensing the coming stress of their cursed family situation, her weak husband decides to leave and work abroad, promising to send money back as if that were appropriate compensation to excuse his betrayal. Almost immediately, Sakina’s sense of loss doubles, pushing her into a state of prolonged mourning for someone who has not yet died. She realizes rather quickly that raising her son alone will mean enduring years of isolation and alienation.