"Neria"
                             A film review by
                           Linda Lopez McAlister
                           on "The Women's Show"
                         WMNF-FM (88.5), Tampa, FL
                               July 29, 1995

   The African Film Touring Festival, in conjunction with the Film Society of
Lincoln Center, is currently sponsoring a rich program of recent African films
in a number of cities around the country. It includes an interesting feminist
film from Zimbabwe, by director Godwin Mawuru with screenplay by Louise Riber
and John Riber doing the cinematography. I hope this film will be included in
the Sarasota African Film Festival this year; if it is, it's well worth your
while to go see it.

    This indigenous African feminist film is clearly aimed at an audience of
Zimbabwean women for the purpose of educating them to their legal rights in a
society in transition from the old, traditional ways to modern life. But it
isn't the least bit dry because its didactic aim is clothed in a compelling
human drama and leavened with lots of terrific African popular music.

   Neria (Jesesi Mungoshi) is a women in her late thirties married to a man
named Patrick. They have moved to the city of Harare from small rural villages
and by dint of much hard work, together they have made a good life for
themselves and their two children. Patrick is a white collar worker and Neria
works at a women's arts and crafts cooperative. They have scrimped and saved
over the years and finally have built their own home with their own labor,
they have a car, and they send their children to good, though expensive,
schools. To Patrick's relatives, these ways seem strange and they try to get
him to come "home" to the village. What seems even stranger to both his mother
and his brother, Phineas, is the way Patrick treats Neria as a friend and an
equal partner in their marriage. The clash between Patrick's more modern views
and his family's traditional expectations of women's roles is made clear early
in the film.

   This conflict is exaccerbated when Patrick is killed, unexpectedly and
without a will, and the entire family, including Neria, simply assumes that
village traditions dictate what has to be done in these circumstances.
According to them, the family is supposed to provide for the widow and her
children for a year and then the widow is to select a new husband from the men
of the village. To greedy Phineas, this means that he gets to take his
brother's cash, bank book, car, furniture and clothes, leaving Neria and her
children destitute in their empty home for several months and then coming in
as the great savior and carting the kids off to the village to work for him
tending his cattle and little store. The only relative Neria has who is
supportive of her is brother Jethro who is the leader of his own musical combo
and who helps out when and how he can (and plays lots of good music including
a song called "Neria").

   Neria is at first helpless from grief and sorrow about her situation, but
eventually, one of her women friends finally convinces her that she would not
be a traitor to her husband's memory if she were to go see a lawyer. She
discovers that the laws of the country are far different from what village
tradition dictates. Even though Patrick hadn't left a will, the civil law
typically will award the estate to the oldest child and, if the child is under
age, the mother will be appointed guardian. The Community Court in Harare
quickly rules in her favor. But the battle is not over, for Phineas is
determined to pursue what he sees as the family's rights, and they find
themselves in a more complex legal proceeding.

   Through it all, Neria's support comes from the women of the co-op who
provide a network of friendship and encouragement and take some steps toward
greater independence themselves in the process. One of them exclaims to Neria
that she'll be at the court session to support Neria "even if I have to lie to
my husband to get there."

    The filmmaking here is simple and straightforward and the acting is
sometimes a bit inexperienced (though Neria is played very well), nonetheless,
"Neria" is a compelling and uplifting film and gives you a glimpse of
contemporary life in Zimbabwe. See it if you get the chance.

   For the WMNF Women's Show this has been Linda Lopez McAlister on Women and
Film.

Linda Lopez McAlister is Professor of Women's Studies and Philosophy at
the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL.

   Copyright 1995 by Linda Lopez McAlister. All rights reserved. Please do not
reprint this review without the permission of the author.