Letting Go Movie Essay

Film Review of Lamb: Working Hard in Letting Go The Sky is blue without pollution, endless mountains surround the plain, and the noises of populous cities are nowhere to be found. Although this land seems peaceful, Lamb reveals that a childhood spent on it is not necessarily carefree. Ephraim, an Ethiopian boy, lost his mother due to drought and lives with his uncle after his father decides to try finding a job in Addis Ababa. However, Ephraim’s stay in his uncle’s house is far from pleasant. His uncle despises him for lacking talent in farming and tending to do the “feminine work” like cooking. He is constantly involved in the arguments of his uncle’s family, even though he stays quiet all the time. And the local boys bully him

Unwilling to give up his only companion’s life, he decides to start saving money for the bus tickets back to his hometown right away. While Ephraim is busy selling samosas on the street and hiding the money he has made, he has no idea what is awaiting him. The most absorbing parts of Lamb are Ephraim’s struggles, which mainly arise from the generation gap. His uncle with a comparably old perspective believes boys belong to the field instead of the kitchen and view animals as sources of food and nutrition, not as companions. His father thinks being well-fed is more important for children and therefore leaves his son to live with relatives, while Ephraim himself clearly craves for parental love more than food. Ephraim is not alone in facing the generation gap. His rebellious cousin Tsion constantly challenges the older generation’s view of feminine behavior by wanting knowledge instead of marriage. Meanwhile, her faith in science and doubts on God’s power draw only scolding and mockery from other family

Yared stated in an interview with International Cinephile Society that “Ephraim is not a victim. The story is not a tragedy. In the face of the hardships, and they are big ones for such a small kid, he proactively seeks to overcome them. That will to live makes the character much more interesting, complex and human” (van de Klashorst, “Of Lambs and Life in Ethiopia – An Interview with Yared Zeleke”). Indeed, few things we encounter in real life can trouble us for a life-long time and throw us into the pit of despair. Moreover, even these things might eventually become less troublesome once we finally find a positive way to interpret them. Thus, trying to solve problems and becoming mature through learning how to let go are what truly matter. Lamb doesn’t exaggerate the downside of growing up or bomb the audience with personal tragedies. Instead, it moves the viewers with truthfulness and distinguishes itself from other mediocre films through this