A Woman Like Me

A Danish woman who is deaf and blind travels to Nepal to meet another woman less fortunate than her who is also deaf and blind.

I loved the (apparent) simplicity of this, in particular in contrast with how much it does. Experience-wise I liked the near silence of it, and aspects such as the representation of the deaf/blind person's perception; however it is the jumping between shoes and perspectives that I liked most. The Danish woman feels sorry for this Nepalese deaf/blind woman because the Danish woman looks (forgive the choice of word) at the Nepalese's situation and feels so sorry for her based on what she doesn't have. This is contrasted by a shot of the woman seeming to be enjoying her time on Earth rather than lamenting what else she could have had.

It is really well done because for most viewers, we probably have been thinking the same about the Danish woman - "how awful", but then consoling ourselves with the thought that she is at least getting out and about. The ending makes us look at our own perspective and realize it rolls down hill like this, and it made me put it wholly to one side in my mind.

What was left then was just the sense of humanity - of all the people involved trying to find the best life they could live, of supporting one another, and of feeling empathy towards others. It is the core of the film and in a world where consideration and empathy can often feel like dead languages, it is reaffirming to see it - and additionally so to see it done in the clever way that this film does it.