SUNDAY March 22, 2009 by Joyce Marcel

My pick for "Best of Fest" is "La Corona," a film that unexpectedly swept me away. Don't really have a reason; with films, it's all intuitive, isn't it? You're watching something and at some point you realize you're feeling, "Wow! This is great!"

So I'm happy to report that "La Corona" will be shown an extra time today, along with "La Americana," at the 6:30 p.m. program at the Hooker-Dunham Theater.

RAIN by Maria Govan

Other than "A Sense of Wonder," in which Kaiulani Lee writes and then performs the words of Rachel Carson in two of Carson's own homes, "Rain" is the only fictional film I've encountered at the festival. And I loved it.

With documentaries, the discovery (or the lack of - see my comments on "Bama Girl" on Saturday) of the story and the deep truth of it depend on realism.

In a fictional narrative, the director is free to set up the shots. So "Rain" is beautiful frame by frame and shot by shot. Govan uses the colors of the Bahamas to stunning effect, so that her characters are often seen solo against large and luscious swaths of color - the turquoise of the Caribbean, the crumbling yellow wall of a church, the white of the sand.

"Rain" is the story of a lithe young girl named Rain who grows up - painfully innocent - on small, bucolic Ragged Island in the Bahamas, and comes to the big city - in this case Nassau Town - in search of her mother after the loving grandmother who has raised her dies.

The mother, Glory, turns out to be a crack whore living in a world of numbers running, dice-playing, AIDS and drugs. The neighborhood is called "The Graveyard," because no one ever leaves.

Yes, it's a different Bahamas than the one you see from the bloated white cruise ships in the harbor, which seem more like large wormy maggots than pleasure boats in this film.
In fact, in one scene, a preacher warns his congregation - big-hatted black women and besuited men - that dreaded homosexuality comes to the Bahamas on these boats. My instinct was to shake him by the collar of his shiny suit and yell, "You've got people smoking crack in your own community, you dork. You've got AIDS. Wake up to the real dangers here!"

Glory herself is almost completely sunk into a world of hurt. She does not know or care about herself. Her eyes are vacant. Her mouth is open and bewildered. She's lost.

Then this young girl arrives and finally awakens her maternal and self-protective instincts.

Glory is played by a wonderful actress, Nicki Micheaux, who is giving the performance of a lifetime here. When she describes how she gave birth to Rain, squatting alone in a pouring rain, it's absolutely thrilling.

Rain can run, and she finally finds some comfort and nurturing from her track coach, CCH Pounder, a fine actress who shows up often on American television. And speaking of good performances, the grandmother is the richly warm Irma P. Hall. Even the great Bahamanian-American actor Calvin Lockhart has a part - his last before he died.

In fact, newcomer Renel Brown, who plays Rain, is the only one whose emotions appear impenetrable. But that may be because she is a young girl playing a young girl who is being bombarded with negative impressions and is trying to absorb and process them.

In fact, all the acting is remarkable here. You're even impressed by the evil crazy guy who tries to rape Rain - but doesn't succeed.

This is the first feature film from Govan, who was born in the Bahamas and has done several documentaries.

She "examines how different generations of women both support and destroy each other, and reveals how an oppressed community can still find something to hold sacred," writes Jane Schoettle at the Toronto Film Festival Site (http://tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/rain.) "At the same time, she explores the emotional life of a young black girl who must find inner direction and strength while drifting in a world hostile to her.

"With a strong visual aesthetic and an even stronger cast, Rain shakes off our postcard perceptions of Bahamian life to show us the beauty and dark complexity that lies between Ragged Island and the Nassau few tourists see. That it does this with depth, delicacy and nuance makes for a rewarding audience experience, and marks Govan as a talent to watch."

Video interviews with some of the cast can be found at http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com.

This was a beautiful film, as well as an emotional roller-coaster ride. In fact, I was so overtaken by this one that I made it the only film I saw on Saturday.