The Mirror Never Lies is set in the Bajo community in Wakatobi, Indonesia, where the community lives in houses on stilts on the water and canoe their way to the market, to school and everywhere else. The story focuses on Pakis, a 12-year-old girl who is dealing with the grief of longing for her fisherman father who has gone missing, whilst dealing with the emotions and confusion of moving into her teenage years.
I believe that many of the actors were non-professional, but with the beauty of the scenery and the emotion of the story, I was easily able to overlook any flaws in the performances. There were some plot and continuity errors that I found it more difficult to overlook – almost to the point where it seemed that several scenes may have been missing. It didn’t bring the plot to a halt, it just seemed to skip a few important parts.
Definitely the highlights of the film were the beautiful, gorgeous and talented children. In trying to woo Pakis, her schoolmate Lumo enlists another school friend who can sing, and the two of them dance and sing and totally won my heart. It is absolutely gorgeous and delightful, and it is worth seeing the whole film just for these children.
ireckonthat 