Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
Fausta (Magaly Solier), a Peruvian peasant girl, suffers from "The Milk of Sorrow", a rare condition caused by the rape or abuse of a breastfeeding mother.
As names of fictional diseases go, the English title is definitely more poetic than "The Frightened Tit", but of course it's allegorical: the true symptom, result of growing up with stories of the bad old days and warnings of what happens to girls alone, is terror. Terror of men, terror of walking without company, terror of the unfamiliar. Fausta's most pressing medical condition is a self-inflicted measure against rape; she keeps a potato in her vagina, periodically trimming its shoots.
It is not a comfortable film.
It's an interesting look at Peruvian cultural practices -- Fausta's mother's funeral, her cousin's wedding -- and at conditions in the country, but ultimately falls a bit flat. Fausta's character arc is silent and largely inscrutable -- it's rather unsatisfying.