Sombre documentary shot over five years follows two healthcare workers as they deliver babies in a brutally divided society<\/p>\n
Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing\u2019s documentary is about two midwives \u2013 one Buddhist, one Muslim \u2013 in Rakhine state<\/a> in western Myanmar, on the border with Bangladesh; it is home to thousands of Rohingya Muslims who for decades have suffered paranoid bigotry from the country\u2019s Buddhist theocracy. And like Barbet Schroeder\u2019s film The Venerable W<\/a>, this film is a reminder that, in this part of the world, being of the Buddhist persuasion doesn\u2019t necessarily make you a kind and gentle saint.<\/p>\n Hla is the Buddhist midwife, notably imperious and sharp-tongued, who at one stage tries getting some medicine into a baby girl and hilariously snaps: \u201cTake it, you little bitch!\u201d Nyo Nyo is the Muslim who is intensely aware of the prejudice all around her and uneasily watches news reports of demonstrations against Muslims and \u201cMuslim supporters\u201d, which means her employers. She finally attempts to set up her own clinic, with the help of a savings-and-loan collective of Muslim women; this is all to the distinct scepticism of her Buddhist colleague, although their essential friendship asserts itself.<\/p>\n