AIFF 2020: This Is Not A Burial, It's A Resurrection

 The award for most bizarre movie title might be going to Lemonhang Jeremiah Mosese's AIFF's Golden Athena winner, but no one can deny that This is not a Burial, it's a Resurrection is one of the most beautiful-looking films ever created. Morese has worked as a cinematographer before, after all, and his exceptional eye can be seen in every single shot of this movie. [small disclaimer: this film's cinematography was done by Pierre de Villiers]

Set in South Africa's Lesotho, a small, mainly agricultural country of approximately 2 million residents, This is not a Burial, it's a Resurrection is the story of Mantoa (Mary Twala), a lonely widow who lives in her small blue-walled hut and at the start of the film, while waiting for her son to come home, finds out that he has died in an accident. Mantoa's grief is quiet yet disqueting enough that people come by her house to see how she has been coping with her depression; women talk about her outside her house out of concern and the local priest regularly stops by to tell her a few comforting words referencing his own grief for his wife. But the quietness of Mantoa's bereavement seems to take over the whole film which has no accompanying soundtrack apart from natural sounds which one can only find in remote places such as Africa's countryside.

In a strange and quite ironic turn of events, Mantoa finds her will to live by making her last arrangements and deciding to wait for death, which has already taken every last member of her family leaving only her behind to count down for her end. Her only hope is that she will be buried next to her relatives in the local cemetery which is home to all of her small community's ancestors. However, not too long after, she learns that some provincial officers have decided to resettle the village, flood the whole area and build a dam. 

Mantoa is determined not to let this happen; she has lost her parents, siblings, husband and children but she will not lose her land or her chance to spend the afterlife next to her beloved family. Her silent reaction turns into a loud and unruly revolution in which all of the villagers participate, trying to persuade the authorities to let them keep their hometown. 

This is not a Burial, it's a Resurrection is a gorgeous film, yet not one easy for the casual movie-goer. It is filled with dream-like shots and surreal symbolisms, it is soft and discreet and yet it feels as if we have lived what these people have lived, as if for two hours we have also been residents of that community seeing what life is like in a small village in Lesotho, feeling what it must be like to lose our simple, rural homes. Mosese's direction is unpredictable yet glorious, making sure that this is a film to remember.

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