Children of the Mountain Film 

The lush green and blue hues of Ghana paint the scenes of Priscilla Anany’s film, Children of the Mountain. And it is those mountains, along with the rivers, grasslands, and skylines that provide a ray of hope in this heart-wrenching cinematic tale. We meet Essuman, whose dreams of new motherhood are crushed when her baby is born with a cleft lip and other health challenges. Her baby’s father, who is married to another woman, proclaims her womb defective and abandons her and the baby. The rest of her village follows suit.

 

 

The camera follows Essuman on a journey to heal her child and find peaceful satisfaction. She follows the winding roads of Accra and the remote villages of the Volta region to hospitals, witchdoctors, and pastors. This story, filmed in Twi and Ewe, raises societal issues with deformity, polygamy, wellness economics, the nature of the human body, and spiritual destiny.

In one scene, a woman stands at the foot of the mountain underneath a grove of trees. She gazes into Essuman and explains how the spirits of the unseen realm, at the top of the mountains, choose their life here on earth. Is it possible to believe that one would choose a life of hardship? Is it conceivable that the painful lessons of fate are simultaneously the gateways to our salvation? Anany’s film delves into this space and sheds light on the intersection between the judgment of the outside world and the unique journey of the individual.

Children of the Mountain is Anany’s debut feature length film. She is a native of Ghana and an American immigrant. Her film was accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival and was released in Ghana summer 2016.

 

Enjoy the trailer for Children of the Mountain; the film is available for purchase on itunes.

 

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/children-of-the-mountain/id1179578480

 

-Nnamdi Arinze