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Dec 31, 2014Nursebob rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Movies about people coming undone are not the easiest to pull off and this biopic of troubled poetess Ingrid Jonker, dubbed the “Sylvia Plath of South Africa”, can attest to that fact. Raised in a strict authoritarian home after the death of her grandmother, the free-spirited anti-apartheid Ingrid often found herself at loggerheads with her father, a senior government official in charge of censoring literary works. Her bohemian lifestyle eventually led to several affairs including an on-again off-again relationship with novelist Jack Cole, a couple of abortions, and more than one hospitalization for severe depression and attempted suicide. But her beautifully visceral poetry earned her a permanent place in South African literature; Nelson Mandela even quoted one of her poems during the first session of that country’s democratic parliament. Unfortunately director Paula van der Oest captures neither her protagonist’s passion nor her underlying demons. Instead we see a shrill, annoying woman running around in circles and alienating everyone she comes in contact with. There is no emotional connection with the audience hence no empathy while the pat script fails to engage us intellectually. The scenery is wonderful though, the acting adequate, and the few snippets of poetry moving.