As documentaries about the Rohingyas go, Midwives is an outlier. While most other filmmakers show the much persecuted ethnic group in Myanmar as being either frightened or in flight, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing’s Muslim protagonist actually stays home, takes control of her life, and is content to say “I’ve achieved my goal” – all while maintaining an unwavering, sisterly relationship with a Buddhist, a cross-communal friendship rarely seen on screen.
A prize-winner at the Hot Docs First Looks project market in 2019 and backed by producers from Canada and Germany, Midwives awaits delivery to international shores after its premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance. With its delicate touch on a spiky subject and its comparatively happy ending (maybe not for the Rohingya people or Myanmar in general, but at least for the protagonists), Hlaing’s feature-length debut should find some eager mentors among festival and VOD programmers.
With her first feature, Hlaing zeroes in on the lives of two midwives striving to survive and rise above the deadly inter-ethnic tensions in Rakhine in western Myanmar. While sprinkling the film with footage that nods towards the turmoil tearing at the region and the country in general, Hlaing is more inclined to see hope amidst the mayhem. However, images do abound of racist demonstrations, the Rohingya’s mass exodus and the military oppression which culminated in overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government last February.
Going beyond the headlines, Midwives is a mellow and intimate portrait of two women who manage to stay true to each other and themselves against all the political odds stacked against them. Staying close to her subjects throughout a shoot that spanned five years, Hlaing – who hails from the same town as her protagonists – is after a more personal and aspirational story about Myanmar than a documentary about the country’s political and humanitarian crisis.
At the centre of the story is Hla, a Burmese midwife running a clinic in a largely Buddhist town, and her Rohingya apprentice Nyo Nyo. The former is a woman of steely nerves who braves ceaseless criticism from fellow Buddhists about her decision to treat Muslim patients with a Muslim assistant. She recalls the hassling she is subjected to, and her detractors who circulated rumours that she was raped or even murdered by Rohingyas.
Despite the dangers lurking around her, Nyo Nyo nurtures her own dreams of integrating herself into the mainstream and moving up the social ladder. Initially, it’s about leaving Rakhine to live with her sister in the bright lights of Yangon. But that becomes impossible, partly because of the political situation and partly because of her own pregnancy and childbirth. Instead she grows into her life as a midwife, eventually opening her own clinic-cum-supplies-store to cater for the needs for her fellow Rohingyas.
Midwives benefits greatly from Hlaing’s rapport with Hla and Nyo Nyo, who remain very open throughout about their feelings and the challenges they face every day. The gutsy Hla delivers gems aplenty that show her defiance. She describes confronting people taking sneaky snaps of her to shame her on social media, telling them to at least “take a decent photo”. While meeker than her mentor, Nyo Nyo is a go-getter too. Hlaing tracks her journey when she sets up her own shop to make her and her compatriots’ lives better.
Hlaing manages to tease the best out of her material alongside Mila Aung-Thwin (who also produces) and co-editor Ryan Mullins. With such a notable first feature in the bank, the young filmmaker is well-placed to tackle other issues wreaking havoc in her country today.
Director: Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Producers: Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann, Mila Aung-Thwin, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Executive producers: Ken Pelletier, Shizuka Asakawa, Daniel Cross, Andrea Roggon, Erika Dilday, Justine Nagan, Chris White, Vijay Vaidyanathan
Director of photography: Soe Kywa Htin Tun
Editors: Mila Aung-Thwin, Ryan Mullins, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Music composer: Olivier Alary, Johannes Malfatti
Production companies: Eyesteelfilm, Ama Film, Snow Films
World sales: Dogwoof Global Sales
Venue: Sundance Film Festival (World Cinema Documentary Competition)
In Rohingya, Rakhine and Burmese
91 minutes
