This Filthy Earth

This is a difficult film because it challenges our expectations about the whole point of seeing a film. This is an artistic experience which requires people to engage both their emotions and their brains. It inevitably produces a reaction, normally one of physical revulsion, but combined with a strong sense of pity for the endurance required to live the sort of life lived by the characters in the film. After a while the assault on the eyes,the use of vivid colours and images to portray a sort of ugliness, becomes watchable. Surely the story of the women and children, the portrayal of racism and the uncompromising nature of a rural culture of poverty is a challenge to our modern sensibilities. Surely it poses all sorts of questions when we contrast this with our sanitised, fetishistic relationship with designer capitalism in our everyday lives. This film is hard work and you need to be in the right frame of mind before settling down to watch. This is not quick-fix entertainment, but it is a special experience and therefore to be recommended. Several people I know preferred it on second watching.