Azali (2018) User Reviews

Surviving in Accra

[nammage · 5/10 · 12 March 2020]

I felt empty watching this, in the sense that there seemed to be no connectivity. I had subtitles but they didn't generate with some of the non-English probably because the languages were mixed together. I understand countries do that; that's not a problem but going from one scene to the next just seemed disconnected and that seemed to be one of the reasons why. Also, I've seen a lot of movies etc., but I don't know if I would call any of this 'acting'. It seemed as if everyone was just speaking AT each other rather than TO each other. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I don't know.

There's a lot of quietness in this. Like you're just looking at people, scenery etc., like it was dispersing art house type moments (I don't think it was, intentionally at least.) It's a story about a 14 year old girl surviving and trying to get back home. Everything moves so slowly. I was interested in the film but it just was teetering on boring me to death. It's too quiet. Even what supposedly is supposed to be exciting was subtle and quiet; such as the main girl finding out that she's going to be sold into slavery (sex trafficking, most likely) and the slaver comes up from behind her--and this other guy that the girl knows from elsewhere--and reaches for a gun in her purse and was so ominous but became so monotonous. It begins only to get interesting until the last 35 minutes of the film but then it twists into just the unbelievable. Amina was able to escape a life of slavery and perhaps sex trafficking only to end up surviving in Accra as a prostitute. That's irony for you. Of a city of over 2 million people she runs into a guy who sort of becomes her protector (who's also new to the city) oh, and after Amina finds her Uncle we find that her protector is her biological father who she's pregnant by! Oh, the twists this movie has and how pathetically entwined. I think they knew it was a boring movie so they added that taboo!

I will say the showing of the vast landscape was quite lovely to look at but other than that, I didn't really care for this film.

Starts Off Okay, But Quickly Disintegrates

[becca7931 · 3/10 · 24 March 2021]

The beginning 20-30 minutes got me very interested in the story, but then it lags so badly and for so long that I no longer cared what was going to happen. There are stretches up to 10 minutes where there is little or absolutely no dialogue AND nothing happening. It is just panning the area they are in and while it is beautiful scenery and people are going about their daily lives in the market, I don't understand the point of how lengthy these segments were. I think the film could have benefited from a better editor. With all that said, the lead actress did a pretty good job working with a bad script. The message is lost in the confusing mess that is the final film.

Very good!

[miniks-70509 · 8/10 · 25 March 2020]

Very interesting movie about the difficult life of a 14-year old girl in Ghana. The storyline might be a little foreseeable and the plot twist at the end is a little too much, but that's not what it's really about. This movie gives you an insight on hard living conditions in Ghana and the reality of a lot of people, especially women, without dramatizing too much. Instead, it puts an emphasis on the day-to-day life and willingness/necessity to fight for survival, which is very well played by the main actress. A immersion in another world which makes you reflect about inequalities as well as violence against women and children. I definitely recommend this movie.

I loved this!

[juanmuscle · 10/10 · 16 November 2020]

Hmm, where do I start! I just wanted to come here and say what a fine piece of writing this thing was but even more the way it all tied together visually and the character development with sparse dialogue at times touched me deeply! and the flashback thing with the voice-over flashback to compel the "wastrel" son to do his brotherly duty! I loved it! The moments when the protagonist goes dead pan into the camera is deeply moving and quite affecting! But the best for me, is the magnificent ending and how all the threads are tied perfectly and we are left with a resounding piece of magnificent art; we must commend everyone who chipped in this project! The people who created this masterpiece should be very very proud of themselves, I watch a lot of cool stuff on Netflix but this one, this one should be canonized for a lot of reasons but for me, this one not only did its job and entertained with seminal style but expatiated on the human conditions that transcends on a universal scale.