Saturday, March 08, 2008

師奶唔易做 My Mother is a Belly Dancer (2006)

I just saw this movie on CFMT (cable 14 on Rogers). It's so rare to see this kind of movie come out from Hong Kong*(see note below). The cast does not contain any young pop superstars, and the story is not about how a boy tries to get a girl. Instead, the movie is a candid yet inspiring portrayal of how four housewives (women with children is more accurate) try to go against oppressive attitudes about what a woman's role is, and where her power lies.

Plot:
Four women each have their own problems to deal with at home. One young woman is a single mother; another is aging and loses her husband to a younger mistress; a third loses her job as the garbage lady and is afraid of telling her family; a fourth is emotionally abused by her husband and her young son. One day, they decide to take belly-dancing lessons, given by the housing estate after the original folk dance teacher disappears. Through the dancing, these women start to rediscover the greatness of having self-confidence and self-esteem on your own terms. Then trouble arrives...

In the end, real life catches up to the fantasies, and not everyone has a happy ending...well, at least some have bittersweet endings. Having supportive friends, belly dancing and self-esteem aren't the answers to all their problems, but they are the foundations to building a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Kudos to Andy Lau for appearing in a cameo role to show his support for My Mother is a Belly Dancer.

*ETA:
No wonder the story is so well-written! The screenwriter is Erica Li 李敏, who was a member of the musical group, Dream Theatre. Together with Yvonne Lau, they wrote their own lyrics and released over 5 albums during the mid-80s to early 90s. I knew that she had since moved to the US and become a writer, but I didn't know that she had started writing for the screen. YAY!

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