Wendy Ide 

The Gravedigger’s Wife review – powerful Djiboutian fable about family bonds

Tough times come all at once for a man and his wife in Finnish-Somali director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s spare, affecting film
  
  

Omar Abdi and Yasmin Warsame in The Gravedigger’s Wife. Lasse Lecklin
Omar Abdi and Yasmin Warsame in The Gravedigger’s Wife. Lasse Lecklin Photograph: Lasse Lecklin

Guled (Omar Abdi), an itinerant gravedigger on the outskirts of Djibouti, looks up hopefully every time an ambulance arrives at the local hospital, but business is slow. Not enough people are dying. Times are tough for all the men huddled, spades in hands, waiting for work. But for Guled it’s a matter of urgency. His wife, Nasra (Yasmin Warsame), is gravely ill, but the kidney treatment that might just save her life costs more than Guled could ever earn. A handsome, widescreen fable about family bonds and financial insecurity, this Somali-language film’s simplicity and economy is its power.

Watch a trailer for The Gravedigger’s Wife.
 

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