The Milk Of Sorrow

A Peruvian film (winner of the Berlin Golden Bear) that tackles an interesting subject, but in a not particularly engaging way, turning the viewing experience into a bit of a chore.
Early on we have a set up of a woman buffetted by the terrors of the past, destroyed in many ways. Her thick hair, the black lighting of her features, show her as someone who has been nothing, destroyed. She is at once completely at the whim of others, she is their creation, while they abuse her (notably the Caucasian woman whose house she works at). This is tragic, and it is worthy to explore these human 'consequences' of past terrors.
However, this film simply does nothing. We have no idea of our central character having either a past or a future, these seem imaginable. Understandably the narrative is static, but this makes it difficult to watch. It is unfair for us to ask the lead to pull herself together, but at least that would engender some movement.
This could have been saved by the visuals. Apart from a couple of nice landscapes, these are largely uninteresting. The parodic weddings and cultures are just downright grim, without the grandeur of universal farce. All a bit sludgy.
With a tragic subject matter (which thick metaphors rather rain down upon, the body, the beads, the plant) the tome of the film conveys this well. Is it unfair to ask for some kind of sharpness, movement, in a life that has none? Either way, surely the film could have been a better viewing experience.