The Bird Can't Fly

Director: Threes Anna

Cast: Barbara Hershey, John Kani, Tony Kgeorge, Yusuf Davids

Genre: Drama 2007

Running time: 89 mins.

Rating:★★★★

Melody (Hershey) returns home to Fairlands for the funeral of her estranged daughter June. But the town has almost disappeared under the encroaching desert. She also has to confront the fact that she has a 10 year-old grandson, River, whose existence she knew nothing about prior. Melody decides to take River away with her but he is resistant. He has worked out an ambitious plan to survive, by breeding the ostriches he and his mother used to feed. His father, Scoop, an idle musician and the town's postman, wants her to leave because he has a secret to hide. A series of confrontations ensues until Melody discovers the truth. It's only when a sandstorm forces Melody and River to take shelter together, that Melody faces some painful facts about her past, which allows both of them to reach an understanding and begin a new future together.

Mourning and embalming of a woman by a group of women who obliviously love the recently deceased. Though no words are spoken, there in the darkness of the night with only the candles beacon this brief initial encounter from the loving community of women giving the audience an intuitive sense of the emotions being endured. Then in a quick switch of pace, we view a no-nonsense-cold-private chief, Melody (Barbara Hershey), who likes things are certain way, has worked hard to be in the position she's in, and seems to be damned if anyone will do anything to bring her off her high horse. Except for the phone call relaying her estrange daughter's, June, death. The chaos of the pouring rain and the rush of people in the night mixed with the multitude of transportation issues through the deserts of Africa, and the hauntingly lack of civilization in a dying villiage illustrates the psychological termoil Melody is struggling with. And it is clear that Melody has forgotten how to put herself in others' shoes, to trust in others' judgement, and compassion for others, when she first attempts to interact with River (Yusuf Davids). In River is where she has met her match, for he is a natural born leader, stubborn, curious, and a vast imagination, which makes the development of the two's bond more desirable to watch develop. The flies that constantly swarm River's father, Scoop (Tony Kgeorge), seems to symbolize either death or deadly secret that he is not telling Melody. 

But is the symbolism behind the ostrich and the egg? Why, like The Lord of the Flies, does River have his "followers" trying to catch one? Why is the name of the hotel, where Melody use to work, disappearing into the desert? Perhaps, the life she thought she knew or never got a chance to know, especially with her daughter, will be long gone and forgotten if nothing is done to keep it alive. You learn that there were many misunderstandings and misguided hatred between River, Melody, and Scoop that when they are finally able to connect with the love they shared towards June, a rebirth and new freedom occurs. The ostrich is the free spirit and a rare beauty, which was June in River's mind. Perhaps it was the same for Scoop and that is why he kept the letters from being given or sent to/by June. Scoop was trying to tame and caged her in all the wrong ways that it unintentionally killed her, therefore leaving him with regret and a desire to fix his mistakes with River.  Melody, herself, tried to cage June in a way that made June rebel and unable to tell her own mother that she was pregnant. The ostrich egg was River waiting to be hatched and cared for, loved, and tamed. 

This film has so many underlining themes that it is impossible pick them up or fully understand in one sitting, which makes it a more beautiful and powerful film. Though the TV quality in the cinematography gives the illusion  that it is going to suck major, at least intially, it becomes more apparent that it is a well thought out tool to allow the audience to bare witness (a fly on the wall, if you will) to the events that unfold throughout the film.