DIFRET @ Sundance

Hirut, a 14 year old Ethiopian girl, is walking home through the fields from the village school when she is suddenly surrounded by a group of horsemen who snatch her up and take her off.  Tadele their leader intends to marry her, but first he imprisons the frightened young schoolgirl in his hut,, and beats and rapes her. Next morning she somehow manages to escape and also grab one of men’s rifles before she runs off. Once her disappearance is discovered the men chase after her and when she is once cornered she fires and inadvertently kills one of her pursuers.

When the police take Hirut into custody she is charged with murder, whilst the men’s actions are totally overlooked as kidnapping a potential bride like this is a well-respected tribal tradition.  The tribal elders meet and the dead man’s family are demanding their rights to kill Hirut as is their custom.  Meanwhile she also certainly faces the death sentence in the Courts too, but as the news of the case is broadcast on the local radio, the story reaches the ears of a potential saviour.

Meaza is a very rare breed … an Ethiopian female lawyer …. and she soon heads to the tiny rural police station where Hirut is being held.  When neither of the policeman, or the local D.A. will take her seriously, she gets her old influential University Professor to pull strings to at least be able to get the girl out on bail. Unable to get a single villager to speak up publicly on Hirut’s behalf at a Trial, Meaza knows she is up against a legal system that will automatically side with the men, albeit the fact that she was raped.  The only way for her to get an acquittal for the girl is to seek a change to the law itself so that self-defense can be accepted as a defense. However before she can ever achieve this her livelihood is threatened with the forced closure of her Legal Centre, and both women’s lives are in real danger.

Set in 1996, this gripping piece of fiction is based on a very real case where a very determined female lawyer acting totally on her own, took the unprecedented step of suing the country’s powerful Minister of Justice to compel him to effect a change in the law to safeguard young girls. Her efforts resulted in the widespread tradition of kidnapping being completely outlawed from then on. 

In this first movie written and directed by Ethiopian Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, the part of Meaza is powerfully played by Meron Getnet a local TV star who imbues this very human drama with a mesmerising performance. It is a heart rending story that feels one with dread and sheer anger until the final outcome is known. With Angelique Jolie now on board as Executive Producer, and having won a Audience Best Film Award at Sundance, and Best Fiction Film at the Berlinale, hopefully this movie will get the audience it so richly deserves.

P.S. In the Amharic language, the word “difret” has a double meaning. In its widest use it means courage and the closest English translation means “to dare”. But in Amharic, it also has a double-entendre that means “the act of being raped”.


★★★★★★★★