#1169: MOSESE, Lemohang Jeremiah: This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection (2019)

MOSESE, Lemohang Jeremiah (Lesotho)
This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection [2019]

Spine #1169

Blu-ray

With a poet’s eye for place, light, and the spiritual dimensions of everyday existence, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese crafts a meditation on the concept of homeland and a transcendent elegy for what is lost in the name of progress. Grieving and alone following the deaths of her husband and children, elderly Mantoa (Mary Twala Mhlongo, in a soul-shaking end-of-life performance) prepares for her own death and to be buried alongside her ancestors. When plans for a new dam near her village in the landlocked kingdom of Lesotho threaten to literally wash away all she holds dear, Mantoa takes a last stand, mobilizing her neighbors to fight for their land and their way of life. The experience of watching Mosese’s visionary, much-lauded This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection is as timeless and elemental as the land itself.

122 minutes
Color
5.1 Surround
in Sesotho
1:40:1
Criterion Release 2023

Director/Writers

Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese was 39 when he wrote and directed This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection.

The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by novelist and playwright Zakes Mda.

Commentary

Featuring Mosese and producer Cait Pansegrouw.

Short films

By Mosese: Mosonngoa (2014) and Behemoth: or The Game of God (2016), along with his 2019 essay film Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You., with a new introduction by Mosese.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

By Director
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