Difret

About how a terrible event changed the judicial system.

The name Angelina Jolie on the poster draw my interest on this one. She was executive producer of this excellent Amharic movie. I appreciate her side of contribution to lift the world cinema. Some of the stories go unheard, because they are happening in the remote places of the earth, far from the modern cities and countries. Newspapers, media might fail to report them in a long-range, because it is less interested in the other side of the world, but movies like this ensures the outreach.

I think this is my first Ethiopian movie. All the cast and story take place in this landlocked East-African country. The narration often switches between a small village and the capital city. Based on the real and historical even about one of the oldest blind belief over marrying a girl when she and her family denied the permission. It's set in the year 1996, the story of a 14-year-old girl Hirut who'd successfully escaped from her abductor, but not without a blow en-route. Now she's facing a charge which she had done in self-defence and the rest is her fight in the court of law.

As usual, everything is fine in our society, so things won't change and it does not have to, until something terrible happens. As to what this film talks, the law was not written in a single day and some of them are overlaps with traditional culture which definitely need a serious reconsideration. It keeps changing until finding a correct solution. Take our society as an example, now the homosexual and marijuana laws were getting friendlier than ever. This story is another example of patching the loopholes in the law. It might come after a horrible incident, but makes sure that it won't repeat.

"I can't even protect my little sister. They will get her one day."

The entire film was not a courtroom drama, but people's bonding and cultural exposure. Actings were wonderful, especially the main two characters, Meaza and Hirut. The pac...