On Sunday, October 23, 2011, Cinema Art Bethesda will present the Spanish film, The Milk of Sorrow (La teta asustada). The film is 95 minutes long and in Spanish with English subtitles.

Synopsis

Fausta (Magaly Solier) is suffering from la teta asustada (the milk of sorrow) an illness transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were raped or mistreated while pregnant or soon after pregnancy during the war of terror in Peru.

The war has ended but Fausta lives on, haunted by it because “the illness of fear” has taken away her soul.

While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother’s footsteps.

The Milk of Sorrow is about the search for healing. A voyage from fear to freedom.

(adapted from text from official website and IMDB)

Selected Awards & Accolades

Academy Award Nominee
Best Foreign Language Film

Berlin Film Festival 2009
Golden Bear Best Film
Fipresci Award

Best Film
Guadalajara Film Festival
La Habana Film Festival
Bogotá Film Festival
Gramado Film Festival

Selected Reviews

The New York Times
– Jeannette Catsoulis

Plumbing the generational reverberations of trauma (believed by the indigenous population to be passed on through a mother’s milk), the Peruvian writer and director Claudia Llosa (the niece of the author Mario Vargas Llosa) explores the possibility of female empowerment in a culture suffocated by superstition and poverty.

The Guardian
– Catherine Shoard

The legacy of upset is at the heart of Llosa’s brilliant film – and it’s a film that wears its heart firmly on its sleeve. But it’s also surprisingly subtle and funny, more concerned with the everyday objects and encounters – wedding cakes and pet pigeons – than with gender politics. Its optimism is evidence of its virtuosity.

Trailer available from official website or watch the embedded YouTube video below.