This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection (2020)

This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection (2020)

A visual marvel from Lesotho, and an empowering tale of transforming grief into action

7.8

Movie

Italy, Lesotho
Sotho
Drama
2020
LEMOHANG JEREMIAH MOSESE
Jerry Mofokeng, Jerry Mofokeng Wa, Makhaola Ndebele
120 min

What it's about

Amongst the mountains of Lesotho, an 80-year-old widow winds up her affairs and makes arrangements for her burial. But when her village is threatened with resettlement due to the construction of a reservoir, she finds a new will to live and ignites a spirit of resistance within her community.

The take

A relatively straightforward story of a village of Sotho people building the courage to resist unwanted development on their land and the erasure of their culture, the rousingly titled This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection wastes no time on the oppressors' point of view. For director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, there is no debate: these people are more important than any markers of progress hoping to displace them. Their struggle is rendered in some of the most crisp and colorful cinematography you could hope to see, with a powerful performance by the late, great Mary Twala front and center, channeling so much sadness into fury and determination.

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