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Cape Verde My Love (2007)

★★½ — Cape Verde My Love (2007)

Cape Verde My Love arrives as part of a modest wave of Lusophone African cinema that began finding international co-production support in the early 2000s, when broadcasters and arts funds in France and Portugal started backing filmmakers from former colonies telling their own stories on their own terms. Director Ana Lúcia Ramos Lisboa worked with a small tri-national arrangement between Cape Verde, France, and Portugal (the production companies Brava Florida, Paris-Barcelone Films, and state broadcaster TCV between them), which is fairly typical for West African filmmaking of the period, where domestic budgets alone rarely sustain a feature. The film is set and shot in Praia, the capital island of Santiago, and centres on three women whose lives are upended by an act of sexual violence within their social circle. At 77 minutes, it is a compact, socially urgent piece, made during a period when Cape Verdean cinema was still very much finding its feet as a recognised national form.

A-Z World Movie Tour Cape Verde This movie is raw, in alot of ways. The cinematography, scripting and acting are all typical of the era and the region but that rawness actually ADDS to the story rather than takes something away. The other rawness comes from the subject matter. It features lots of abuse, in various forms, and both sides of how Women react to that abuse. I've noticed a common theme now from the few African films I've watched which is often about abuse, rape, incest, loss etc... Movies are either an escape from reality or a reflection of reality and I'm not sure where this movie sits in that scale. It's melodramatic, in the sense that the worst possible thing will always be that which happens, but what if that's a real reflection of life for many women in the Cape Verde? Maybe that's the point of the movie. Either way, a well put together and thought provoking movie.

Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2007 | Watched: 2025-05-31

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