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A beautiful and touching look at the power of superstition in rural Peru

Apr 19th 2010 By Tom Dawson

Claudia Llosa’s sombre allegorical drama tells the story of Fausta (Magaly Solier), a fearful young Peruvian woman living in a shanty settlement outside Lima.

According to folklore, she’s suffering from the ‘milk of sorrow’, transmitted through the breast milk of her mother, who was raped during the ’80s civil war.

Handling potentially lurid material with restraint, Llosa finds a measure of beauty in the rituals and superstitions of community life.

Solier, meanwhile, impresses as a traumatised individual who, faced with the sudden death of her mother, gives voice to suppressed feelings through personal song.