Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams is one of the best independent films I have ever seen. Without giving too much away, I will give an over view of the film. It is about these women in Rwanda who want to start a business. This is not something many women do in Rwanda, because everyone is so poor, and men are usually the ones with the job. These women are all a part of a drumming troupe. They decide to open up an ice cream shop, because ice cream does not exist in Rwanda. They go through many complications along the way, but in the end, it all turns out good.

The film uses mainly natural lighting. They use long shots, medium shots, and some close up shots. They use mainly eye level shots throughout the film. The editing is cut and cross-cutting. They have some text track that mainly tells where they are or who they are. They use some voice over sounds, but the narration is mainly on screen.

Overall, I would highly recommend this film. It was very well made. It makes you feel certain emotions through the film (warning you may cry like I did). Go and watch this film and recommend it to your friends!

Sweet Dreams was an amazing documentary in my opinion and put to light some of the atrocities that happened in Rwanda and the aftermath of people dealing with them. A group of women who drum together, which that in itself is something not very common in Rwanda because drumming is looked at as something only men did, but they took it upon themselves to try and open the first ice cream shop in Rwanda. The women in the film have all gone through different things during Rwanda's genocide and the weight of what they all went through can be seen in how they live their lives. The directors Lisa and Rob Frenchman, brother and sister combo, did a fantastic job in their interviews to get the hurt these people felt and the happiness when it came to something as simple as having a job at an ice cream shop so they can achieve their goals.

This film shows the strong feminism movement going on in Rwanda geared towards trying to empower more women. The other strong theme showed in this film would be that of forgiveness. In the film it deals with people trying to live in a community where their neighbors have killed their parents, siblings and other relatives but, they get over it and hug these people and some cases invite them for food. In showing these things in the film the directors have given us this work of art to show just how strong the human spirit can be.