Green Days by the River

Michael Mooleedhar

Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, 2017, 102 minutes

In this pastoral romance set in 1952 in the greenery of rural Trinidad (enhanced by a marvelously mellow soundtrack), innocent young love flows down meandering paths. Fifteen-year-old Shell’s ailing father wants his son to succeed with his brains, not as a simple laborer from the backwoods. The boy is enchanted with Rosalie, the mixed-race daughter of neighboring landowner Mr. Gidharee, when he sees her bathing in the river like a nymph in a fairy tale. Alas, Rosalie likes someone else. Joan, a willowy, high-energy black girl, has her eye is on Shell. They dance at the village fair and steal a kiss, and Shell has a new love interest. But Shell’s father and the calculating Mr. Gidharee, who think they can run their children’s lives, agree: The “smart” match for Shell is a landowner’s daughter. The next generation will have to struggle to make its own way.—Miguel Pendás

In Trinidadian Creole English with English subtitles