The Divorce (2008)
★★ — The Divorce (2008)
Gabon's national cinema has always operated on a modest scale, and The Divorce is a fairly representative example of what the Centre National du Cinéma du Gabon has supported in the 2000s, short-form social dramas concerned with everyday domestic and community life. Director Manouchka Kelly Labouba was working within a tradition of Francophone African filmmaking that uses fiction to explore the friction between modern individual choices and the collective expectations of extended family structures, a tension particularly visible in urban Gabon at the time. At just 40 minutes, the film sits somewhere between a short and a feature, a format common across Central and West African production where budgets are limited and distribution runs largely through local television and, more recently, platforms like YouTube.
A-Z World Movie Tour Gabon I honestly didn't know what to expect given the lack of reviews out there for The Divorce (which I watched on YT) It's a family drama, for sure, but rather than The Divorce it should probably have been called "The Rough Patch" because that's what it is really. Their relationship has issues, and it struggles, and it nearly breaks, but the story is ultimately about trying to reconcile. The music is the best part about it. Cinematography is quite basic and it's too dark to see what's going on at times. Kept me entertaining for the entirety though so can't be all bad.
Rating: ★★ | Year: 2008 | Watched: 2025-06-20
Related on Movies With Macca
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
