A Walk to Beatiful Review

By Jacquelynn Mondragon

I had the pleasure of attending the 16th annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival (PAFF) held in Crenshaw, California. It’s where one can get to see a cultural side of film instead of the same Hollywood motion pictures that are released every Friday. The PAFF has directors predominantly from all regions of Africa. It was a different movie experience. In line, I noticed the supporters attending were mainly older, black/Africans, with few Caucasians, and Latinos. Quite a few African men and woman were dressed in colorful orange, red, green and yellow Dashikis. Everyone was very conversational and recommending movies back and forth. I meet several people that had been attending for years and were pleased to see a young Latina taking part in their culture. Inside the theater the audience at times yelled at the screen when something dramatic happened. The overall environment was great. As for the films, I choose Mary Olive and Amy Bucher’s documentary film, A Walk to Beautiful.
A Walk to Beautiful is about five Ethiopian women: Yenenesh, 17, Wubete, 17, Almaz, 38, Zewedie, 30, and Ayehu, 25; who all suffer from obstetric fistulas—tissue tears from pregnancy creating holes between the vagina and the bladder or rectum. The holes are caused by extended labor and difficult birth, resulting in delivering a dead infant, and cause the mother to leak blood, urine or feces until treated. Ethiopian woman who live with this condition are ostracized by their husbands, siblings, villages, friends, and worse their parents. They are forced to live in a shack behind everyone in their community, limiting their contact with all.
Ayehu had an impacting scene in the begging of the movie where the camera is shooting her legs drenched in urine and the camera slowly moves to her close up. Her eyes are filled with tears and sadness. She explains feeling like an incontinent pet. Everyone ignores her and talks down to her because she can’t fill the role of an Ethiopian woman. She can’t bear children or keep her husband satisfied. She describes times where hyenas have tried to eat her and no one comes to her aid. It’s a horrifying reality to see what these five women go through. Each one gives their back-story about their condition and what outcomes they’ve endured. Ayehu’s statement: "Even death would be better than this. This is not life,” broke my heart.
Another powerful scene was with Almaz. She has four children and on her fifth pregnancy deformed her vagina and caused double fistula problems. She can’t hold any of her bodily functions. The husband leaves her for a younger woman who can deliver his children and slanders Almaz on camera. He mentions that she is useless and he is a man with needs that she can no longer fulfill. The audience sighed in raged and two women screamed at the screen. It was intense to see this man so uncompassionate to the mother of his four children. Almaz cries and explains that her parents are very neglectful as well. The close-ups on these woman are amazing and their plain faces are over powered by their sad eyes.
Out of the entire woman, Wubete’s story broke my heart and filled my eyes with tears. She is an amazing young woman and I connected with her. Her father beat her growing up and married her off several times. However being a modern, young woman, and never wanting the traditional Ethiopian life style as a mother, lover, and servant; she never wanted to be married. She wanted to go to school and be free from men. The last marriage that she was forced into she escaped pregnant and delivering a still born. The head of her fetus was rubbing against her uterus causing several holes in her bladder and vagina. She describes having no one and she is not allowed back to her village. Her mother died when she was young and remarked that her mother would have never allowed her to be married off and given the lifestyle her father imposed on her. She was forced to work and carry heavy jugs on her back which stunted her growth. She says, “I grew up too fast and now I am so small and useless.” Her voice sounds melancholy and she cries the most. I was saddened by her father’s mistreatment and her wanting an education that she can’t afford. Largely she is simply beautiful and stayed in my heart.
After each woman describes their experiences the camera follows each one as they say goodbye to their family and head out on foot to a clinic in Addis Ababa. The clinic is known to surgically repair their injuries in hopes of giving back their life. Each scene is filled with great angles of their feet on dirt and overhead displaying the long dirt road towards the sunset. The music in each scene is beautiful. It has a lot of violins and drums beat at every step they take.
Following their journey they all make it to the hospital where they are interviewed, given a physical, and bed. Each woman is shocked to see so many of them living with the same injuries. It was moving when Yenenesh with a smile stated “I am not the only one with this problem, there are several of us.” As soon as these ladies are admitted their facial expressions change. Everyone accepts them and they are finally able to converse with others, building their confidence.
Considering they’re planning to open this movie in several theaters in Los Angeles, I won’t go into the specifics of the ending, and will defiantly keep you updated on the date of its release. So without spoiling the end, I was pleased by the results and the symbolism of new clothes which is breathtaking. They close the movie with a remake of “Amazing Grace” which was prefect and set the mood. I feel so inspired by this film and I never knew this type of injury could occur from enduring labors. I feel fortunate that these ladies shared their souls with all who wanted to listen. The scenic shots and music were amazing along with the translation of the Amharic language. I defiantly recommend this movie to everyone.

Here's a link to catch a clip of the movie enjoy!
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