TIFF Tuesday, Sept 13

A day of a high and a low.

The first was a gala repeat of The Lady directed by Luc Besson.

It is a bio-pic of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the pro-democracy movement in Burma ( aka Myanmar), and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. It runs a bit long at 2 hr 25 mins, but it is a wonderful film. Well acted, well paced, and inspirational. It focuses on the relationship between Suu Kyi and her husband, Michael Arris, an Oxford professor. They were separated for many years, as she languished under house arrest in Burma, and he continued to teach in Oxford and looked after their two sons.

It is an epic, but the personal elements of the couple's life is strong and clear. It was chosen as a gala, so it is clear that it will be released commercially, and get wide release. The screening I was at got the director an instant standing ovation. Watch for it.

My second film of the day explored another interesting topic of human rights, but did not meet the challenge. The film was Man on Ground. First of all, I would comment, that, looking at the TIFF film list, I was struck by how many films deal with the issue of illegal immigration into Europe. This film, by a young Nigerian director, now living in South Africa, deals with the issue of immigration of Africans, particularly Nigerians, into South Africa, where they are met with hostility and violence by their fellow Africans.

The technical details were fine. The cast was good, and the acting was good. The script....not so good. There seemed to be some difficulty finding moments of dramatic tension, so it just got overwrought. Disappointing.