Shirley Adams
Description
In this deeply affecting portrait of ordinary courage in present-day South Africa, a single mother--Shirley Adams--struggles to care for her paraplegic teenage son, Donovan, in a depressed district on the outskirts of Cape Town. Wearied but resolute, she desperately clings to him as he withdraws from the world following a suicide attempt, and is hopeful when his spirits are momentarily lifted by the appearance of Tamsin, a pretty but overeager social worker. But when the relationship between Donovan and Tamsin sours, his fragile emotional health declines, and Shirley's faith and perseverance are put to the ultimate test. First-time director Oliver Hermanus's observant camera holds close to its subjects, capturing the claustrophobia, intimacy and hushed anguish surrounding the tender daily routines of a mother and her child.
Runtime
91 min
Subjects
Geography
Genre
Date of Publication
2009
Database
Alexander Street
Direct Link
Similar Films
Telecommunications
Women's lust. Die lust der fraun
Keepers of the flame. The legacy of three Hawaiian women
Trafficked. Children as sexual slaves
Autism and applied behavioral analysis
Wisdom of the heart. Women and heart disease
When pigs come
Interviewing. Arvonne Fraser, June 10, 2011, Amherst MA, part 1
Extraordinary women. Coco Chanel. 2
El día que me quieras. The day you love me
The Legacy of Barbara Jordan
A destruction
Siberian love
Protective services
Honorable murder