Sweetness in the Belly

Definitely worth watching!! I rate this a 7 and wonder if I rated high enough.

I will admit, as an Ethiopian, I braced myself for offense when I sat down to watch this film. It is a bit unusual to see a white woman portray the Ethiopian refugee experience, but in all honesty, Dakota gives a sincere and worthy portrayal with a character that gives careful attention to her privileges. The circumstances surrounding the story and the other Ethiopian women are rich and authentic. You can see by her response to casting criticism, she does understand the heart of the story she is telling. It brought back memories for my parents as they watched so it was a worthy effort. Particularly her attempts at the Amharic language. 👌🏽 If your on the fence, I do reccomend giving it a look. I'm glad I did.

First DO read the review from Hawwiko. The review is enlightening.

I would love to know if there have been any Caucasian person that was orphaned in the Arabic world that grew up as a Muslim. I could not find any record of it but the question itself and the movie offers a great question about that.

I too loved Dakota Fanning's performance and I thought more importantly that even though she played it as a Muslim who grew up in the Muslim world and as a Caucasian she still enjoyed special privileges' not offered to others of color. It showed the inherent racism in the world.

Having it happen in Ethiopia also showed the class struggle that is taking place as the rich look to prosper off the backs of others.

Why the doctor was attracted to her in the first place I question but I will leave it at that. See the movie if you get the chance.

So far every movie project she has been on is worth seeing.

I watched this movie straight after having finished the book - which was my mistake. I guess I didn't see the movie for what it was on it's own. I thought Dakota was amazing and the actress who played Amina stole my heart. Yahya Abdul Mateen was a good choice for Aziz I believe. The problem was with fast pacing, and the fact that some scenes just don't make sense unless you read the book and understand it more. Characters were not as fleshed out as was needed to truly sympathise with them and understand why they say the things they do. Of course in just under 2 hours we can't expect the film to show everything that happens in the book, but some pivotal points like how Lily and Aziz eventually got together was skimmed over in the film for me. Overall it managed to find it's way through the plot but failed to fully capture the soul within sweetness in the belly,

I almost didn't watch it because of the ridiculously low rating. It's a nice, authentic, non-hollywood movie. No CGI, or dreadfully ludicrous, unrealistic fight sequences. It felt honest and authentic, like a good indie film should be.