‘Neria’ (NR)

"Neria," an amateurish courtroom drama from Zimbabwe, explores the emergence of a women's rights movement in that increasingly urban African republic. The modest film also looks at the uneasy relationship between modern-minded city-dwellers and their hidebound kin in the villages.

Jesesi Mungoshi brings enormous dignity to role of Neria, a hard-working seamstress who enjoys an equal partnership with her loving husband. The happily married pair have not only managed to build a decent home for themselves and their two children, but have been able to set something aside for the future.

All this changes drastically with the unexpected death of Neria's husband, whose estate is looted by his greedy elder brother, Phineas (hammy Dominic J Kanaventi) in an apparently all-too-common perversion of tribal law. While Neria is in her husband's village for the funeral, Phineas takes her furniture, cash, car and bankbook, leaving Neria to struggle to support the children. A friend urges her to hire a lawyer, but she hesitates for fear of offending her late husband's family.

Then one day she comes home from work to find that Phineas has changed the locks on the house and taken her children to the village, where she later finds her desperately ill daughter unattended. When Phineas refuses to drive them, Neria carries the girl to the hospital, arriving in time for an emergency appendectomy. At long last, Neria hires a lawyer, who helps her seek justice in the courts.

Director Godwin Mawuru, a first-time filmmaker, awkwardly mixes musical interludes (featuring African recording star Tuku), folk tales, legal instruction and traditional narrative to tell the story. The highest-grossing film in Zimbabwe's history, it's no doubt a great help to women who find themselves in similar circumstances. The film was produced by Americans John and Louise Riber, who say they want to train African filmmakers "to help them better use the media to communicate social development messages." So much for entertainment.

"Neria" is not rated but suitable for general audiences.