craigwilkins-1

I had the good fortune of seeing this magnificent film at the Toronto International Film Festival. Once a year, sometimes twice I see a film that makes my three movie a week habit all worthwhile, something that is so honest and pure that it's like watching a little piece of Heaven come to life on the screen in front of you. The World Unseen was that for me. I don't want to give anything away. I'll simply say that Writer/Director Shamim Sarif works from her heart and her soul delivering a movie that obviously meant the world to her. Lisa Ray, so wonderful in Water, had me in the palm of her hand, pencil her in as an actress to watch in the future. And Sheetal Sheth was a revelation.

Set in the Indian community of Cape Town during Apartheid, The World Unseen looks through the politics, around the issues and shows us the world that is the lives and loves of two young woman, one very traditional, one anything but.

I loved this film! I don't think a film has made me feel like a child for decades, and if Superman Returns can do that, then I've got to bow down and give credit where credit is due. That said, I was already troubled by the time I left the theater, and half way home on the subway I got more and more perturbed. If I haven't missed something, Superman has a sexual relationship with Lois Lane, she becomes pregnant. Not knowing, he decides to leave Earth for home. Lois is upset, feels abandoned, and starts up a relationship with a co-worker, passing off the child she's carrying as his(so it wasn't years after Superman left, probably not even months) Superman returns and hopes to take up where he left off, only to find her living a common law marriage with a really nice man whom she shares a child with. He begins by stalking her, flying by her home, using his super hearing and x-ray vision to watch her, then meets with her on the roof basically to woo her... I'm old, I admit that. I'm in my thirties, Superman for me was all that's good and honourable in the human race. I don't know how I'd feel if my wife's childhood sweetheart came back to town and started stalking her.