How much does your country of origin define your sense of belonging? In Jessica Beshir’s documentary Faya Dayi, a World Documentary Award entry at the Sundance Film Festival, the lives of a community in Ethiopia are explored in a beautiful and poetic way. Abandoning traditional documentary narrative approaches, Beshir uses spirituality and mythology to juxtapose vignettes of life in this region of the world.
Photo Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Khat is a halleucenogenic crop that both financially supports the community and introduces problems into it. The story primarily follows two young men entering the business and how it affects every aspect of their lives, from creating financial stability to religious practices and tearing families apart with addicted parents. As both men start to explore the only viable future available to them, they also begin to discuss ways of getting out and what leaving their country of origin could mean.
While the documentary doesn’t have a traditional narration, it incorporates dreamlike poetry that creates a spiritual viewing experience. It tells the myth of Maoul Hayat, a tale of light, darkness, water, and spiritual symbolism. The audience receives the tale in small doses, completing it towards the end of the two-hour documentary.
Filmed in black and white, Beshir lets shots linger for a long time, finding beauty in all aspects of life. Footage like birds nesting in a barren tree against a moonlit sky or sleeping dogs on a quiet street at night could be paused and framed as works of art. The goal was to recreate the dreamlike experience of the effects of khat and through breathtaking cinematography and sound editing, it’s brilliantly achieved.
For all the beauty in every shot and the powerful story being told, Faya Dayi suffers from its lack of a cohesive narrative. With subtitled dialogue from two languages, Harari and Oromo, viewers without much context for the livelihood in this region aren’t given any historical background to fill in the gaps. Sadly, there is shockingly little available online in English to satisfy further reading afterwards. What you’re left with is a hazy view of a culture and a desire to know more about it.
Faya Dayi strikes an emotional chord with audiences who give it a chance, but it feels pointed directly at expatriates looking for a taste of Ethiopia. It’s so deliberate in what it doesn’t tell viewers that it’s sadly alienating despite it’s moving art gallery esthetic.
I give Faya Dayi 3 out of 5 stars.