Difret – Movie Review by Eveleen Coyle

Director: Zeresenay Mehari
Writer: Zeresenay Mehari (screenplay)
Stars: Meron Getnet, Tizita Hagere, Rahel Teshome

Based on true events that occurred in 1996, this is the story of the marriage abduction of a 14-year-old girl from rural Ethiopia. The girl, Hirut, tries to escape, and in doing so shoots and kills her kidnapper, a young man whose family insisted he was following a traditional practice for getting a wife. Hirut, bewildered and facing a possible death sentence felt her actions were in self-defence.

A compelling, dramatic and informative film in which the real baddie is not a person but a local tradition. The film highlights the issues and traditions that confront girls and women in Ethiopia. While it challenges some traditions, it manages to be respectful of the many others and of the communities.

Hirut (Tizita Hagere) lives in a village three hours outside of Addis Ababa, the middle girl of three sisters, the eldest of whom was abducted into marriage as a young girl. Both Hirut and her father, a small subsistence farmer, are determined that Hirut stay on in school to receive an education. But returning home one day, she is surrounded and abducted by a group of men on horseback with the intent of marrying her to their leader, Tadele (Girma Teshome). Tadele beats her, rapes her and attempting to escape, Hirut grabs his rifle. Surrounded and trapped by her abductors, she shoots and kills Tadele. His family are determined to have revenge with her death.

Shocked, frightened and injured, Hirut is jailed with little hope of rescue. Her cause is taken up by a female lawyer, Meaza (Meron Getnet) from the Andinet Women Lawyers Association Council, an organisation that protects and defends women. She is smart, a good lawyer, media savvy and determined to fight Hirut’s case and win at any cost. Meron Getnet is superb as Meaza.

Meantime back in the village the local community hold their court out in the open in a wonderful scene where the elder judges that a compromise be reached rather than a life taken. Particularly good is Hirut’s gentle father, who is terrified of a feud with the dead man’s family but also clearly loves and supports his daughter.

The difficulty for women dealing with a bureaucracy run by men unaccustomed to taking them seriously is well portrayed and not overplayed. The local head of police (Moges Yohannes) and his assistant are unable to deal with Meaza, to them a disobedient a woman, and do their best to obstruct her every move – they are out of their depth.

It is an inspiring story of a case that went a long way to change the law and the mindset of the way women are treated in Ethiopia.

Director Zeresenay Berhane Mehari was born and raised in Ethiopia and moved to the US to study film in USC. Angelina Joly as Executive Producer will help give it the profile it deserves.