Filmfest DC - Green Days by the River

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