Ma.Ama review: This beautiful mourning is a deeply honest and personal portrait

There is nothing more scary than exploring your own self. Directors and artists who attempt self-portraits often run the risk of either aggrandising the self, or being too meek in their explorations. Dominic Megam Sangma cannot be accused of either. The filmmaker's Ma.Ama, was born of a longing for a truthful memory of his late mother, and incidentally, captures the true face of his old father. 

The film is entirely in the Garo language, a dialect of the North East, and revolves around the life and times of the Sangma family. It begins with the surreal dream of Philip Sangma, a 90-year-old in search of his late wife's soul. A wife, who we learn was killed by black magic. 

Struggling to let go of her memories in his twilight, Philip sets out in search of redemption, only to dig deeper into a dark truth the family has locked themselves away from. In doing so, Philip comes to term with his own flaws, and the flaws of his family. 

It is here that Dominic manages to create an ethereal, scenic portrait of real, flawed people. His camera is objective, which says a lot since it is focussing on his father, step-mother and brother of all people. The director stitches real moments with dreams and surreal situations that make the scene all the more enchanting. The tale acquires a touch of magical realism through its treatment. 

The director keeps the camera at a distance from the entire sequences, enough to help understand the scene, but not close enough to go through every detail. By doing so, he brings the scenarios to the closest possible point of real life. In addition, the perspective of the camera, to stop and observe while the characters have moved on allow the audience to be a part of the life around them. 

Shot over a schedule of 14 days, Ma.Ama is a leisurely narrative that recreates the key moments in Philip Sangma's life, without borrowing actors to do so. It's greatest praise came from Philip himself, who told Dominic after seeing the film, "It is like I am looking at myself in the mirror." 

These recreations are filled with wonderful touches of imagery bordering on surrealism. They are extensions of the reality and dreams that the 90-year old goes through. 

The only problem, perhaps, is the slow, dawdling pace of the film. While it does not ever seem boring, it does flag in energy. But such cinema is not for all audiences. It requires an attention span that goes beyond a cellphone. 

Above all, the film displays the courage of a filmmaker to dig deep into the uncomfortable parts of his own story and discover truth.

Ma.Ama was screened at the 2nd Kazhcha-Niv Indie Film Festival on 10 December 2018 in Trivandrum, Kerala.