What sets the film apart is the subtle touch of Nigerian-American director Andrew Dosunmu and one of the year’s best lead performances from Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead). Gurira plays Adenike, the new bride who butts heads with expectations and familial pressures associated with child rearing and fertility. Her yet-to-be-conceived baby has already been pronounced “George” by her new mother-in-law (Bukky Ajayi), who will be on Adenike like a hawk for the next 18 months.
With her husband Ayodele basically sheltered from his mom’s pressure, Adenike will ingest potions, take on fetyility charms, including a belly necklace, and increasingly find her own fertility no longer a private matter. Worse, when the inevitable visit to a fertility doctor occurs, Ayodele declares it unaffordable, even though, adhering to another cultural norm, he won’t allow Adenike to work. Additionally, although it’s unstated, his macho state of mind doesn’t want to be upset with the unsettling notion of his manhood being questioned. The mother-in-law suggests Ayodele take on another woman, apparently an accepted practice.
Shot by Sundance prize-winning cinematographer Bradford Young, Mother of George is carefully framed with the spare language of close ups and cropped scenes and sharp cuts often replacing any undue dialogue. What could have in the wrong hands been melodramatic overkill, soars to the level of a modern-day classic on the dire difficulties facing a tight-knit diaspora in search of keeping old ways without losing themselves in total chaos.
Patriarchy fights matriarchy, emotional states become rivetingly exposed, and the struggle to stay human against inhuman odds spark this second film from Dosunmu. A former fashion director for Yves Saint Laurent, Dosunmu not only knows his way among colorful print dresses and headwraps but he takes first -time screenwriter Darci Picoult’s compelling story and fashions one of the year’s best films. Gurira will give you goosebumps. Her portrayal of Adenike’s retains dignity and grace as she faces enormous hurdles and moral dilemmas overwhelming enough for a lifetime.
(Mother of George will screen on Friday, October 25, at 7 pm at The Ritz Bourse.
4.5 Ancestors Rolling Over In Their Graves (out of 5 stars)