Daughters of the Dust

I really wanted to like this, but other than visually, there wasn't much to appreciate. A stronger storyline would have been nice. It does however inspire me to visit the area and look into the history, but I wish the movie itself had told me more. Kudos for the effort.

This completely brilliant film was the first Julie Dash film I have seen, and if the rest of her work is as brilliant, she is going on my list of all-time favorite directors. While listening to the Gullah language is a bit tricky at first, this is one of those rare films which rewards re-watching with further insights, and new perspectives. It is rare for me to still enjoy a film I've studied in detail after having to pull it to pieces, but Daughters of The Dust is not only still enjoyable, it is breathtaking in the sheer detail present in every shot, the layered symbolism which seems to only uncover more layers as you peel each back. I thought I had become sick of all American film, that all that was left was either formulaic, or pretentious art-house, but this film proves that all wrong. Watch it. More than once! The opening image, of dust blowing out of work-worn hands is an essay in visual poetry in itself!

I'll start by saying that I usually like non-linear movies, and that I'm interested in African-American history and the Gullah people. That said, this movie was one of the all-time worst I have ever seen. There's no plot, no character development, and no way to determine what the relationships between most of the characters are. It's as if you were dropped from the sky into the midst of this somewhat unsympathetic bunch of women (the men are ciphers, no personalities at all, merely an afterthought), and during the time you are there they don't speak to you and reveal nothing about themselves. The Gullah dialect is almost impossible to understand, and there are no subtitles. Yeah, the cinematography is nice, but save yourself a couple bucks and watch a PBS show. It's obvious that the ONLY reason many people are so entranced by this film is that it was the first independent film by an African-American woman.

As one of the extras who had the opportunity to be apart of this production, i found it to be very educational and it was truly a learning experience for me. This was the first movie I ever appeared in so I was truly on cloud nine as I was doing everything the directors were asking me to do. During the filming of this movie I was already apart of a group called The Hallelujah Singers whose purpose was (and still is) to seek to preserve through music the Gullah heritage, rooted in West African traditions and language, brought by the slaves to the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. this movie gave me more insight into what it was the group was doing. Again, just being apart of this movie was great and very educational for me.

I keep fast forwarding it to see if it will interesting but Halfway through I just stopped watching. I guess some people enjoy led it and some don't. At least I gave it a try.

It's tough to sort my feelings on Daughters of the Dust. The film is built around a compelling and often forgotten segment of black history that maintains social resonance beyond its time and place; director Julie Dash deserves credit for capturing the emotion and pain of cultural transformation, and there are lovely images throughout. But Daughters of the Dust makes very little effort to engage the audience: it's difficult to maintain a sense of each character's individual goals, and the film often sacrifices narrative momentum for visual poetry. Unfortunately, I'm left with a film that interests me more in theory than in practice. -TK 9/30/10