The Two Faces of a Bamileke Woman
New York Times Critics' Picks • 1h 16m
Directed by Rosine Mbakam • Documentary • 2016 • 76 minutes
Rosine Mbakam left Cameroon at 27 to live in Belgium. Seven years later—having studied film and married a European—she returns to make what she calls a journey into darkness—to the village of her birth, and later to the capital city of Yaoundé, where her mother now lives most of the year.
In the village of Tonga, her mother, Mâ Brêh, shares memories of the horrors of the war against French colonizers, and of daily life for a Cameroonian woman in an arranged marriage—a fate Rosine herself barely escaped, leaving the family of an angry ex-fiance behind. As she spends more time with her mother and the women around her, Rosine reveals the strength of their solidarity and their ability to face adversity.
"Mbakam demonstrates a mastery of perspective, a rare ability to include the camera in community.” —The New York Times
“An honest, captivating documentary essay.” —Jagoda Murczyńska, AfryKamera Film Festival
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