Berlinale review. The Survival of Kindness

The Survival of Kindness (Competition) is an Australian movie, written, directed and produced by Rolf De Heer (Djingo, Bad Boy Bubby, the Tracker) with Mwajemi Hussein (BlackWoman), Deepthi Sharma(BrownGirl), Darsan Sharma (Brown Boy)

By M.R. D’Amico

Blackwoman is abandoned in a metal cage in the middle of the desert but she is not ready to pass. She manages to escape and starts a timeless journey walking through desert, mountains and city only to find more terror. Her persecutors are the most cruel white gas-masked gunmen who don’t want to release their privilege and destroy everything they find. Her destiny is to escape again.

“When people are in power”, says Mwajemi Hussein (who never acted before and could win a prize for her amazing interpretation),“they don’t see and don’t understand the struggle of people who are suffering.There is a big distance”. Hussein is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo and before shooting the movie she didn’t even know that film festival existed, even if she is convinced that “if you want to change you have to take the challenge, we can’t achieve big things if we don’t take risks”. Director Rolf de Heer, whose movie is like a mythical journey through life and nature shot during Covid with a crew of just nine people between Tasmania and the deserts of South Australia. De Heer is always looking for kindness but thinks that “today we are in danger of losing it”, therefore he is very happy to present his movie at Berlinale, a “kind” festival  he added at the press conference “Here, I received nothing but kindness”.