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Rough Aunties

Play trailer Poster for Rough Aunties 2008 1h 44m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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88% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 100% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
The Bobbi Bears, multiracial women in Durban, South Africa, devote their lives to rescuing and providing a safe haven for abused children.

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Rough Aunties

Critics Reviews

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Peter Bradshaw Guardian There are moments of raw, almost unwatchably painful emotion and distress in Kim Longinotto's documentary about the women who work for the Bobbi Bear group, a multiracial volunteer initiative in Durban, South Africa... Rated: 3/5 Jul 15, 2010 Full Review Daily Telegraph (UK) Not to say that this is breezy viewing, it's hard to imagine a more miraculously undepressing documentary, given that the subject is child abuse in South Africa. Rated: 4/5 Jul 15, 2010 Full Review David Parkinson Empire Magazine Longinotto misses the mark in a doc that only scratches the surface of South Africa's broader problems. Rated: 2/5 Jul 15, 2010 Full Review Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal While "Rough Aunties" is a personally affecting story of perseverance, it’s not as culturally enlightening as it could be. Rated: 3/5 Oct 3, 2022 Full Review Tom Dawson Total Film A moving tribute to the dedication, humanity and camaraderie of its female subjects. Rated: 3/5 Jul 22, 2010 Full Review Sophie Ivan Film4 Yes, it's tough - sometimes almost unbearable - to watch, but it's also impossible to look away; or to imagine another filmmaker who would approach this subject with such unsparing, steely commitment. Rated: 4/5 Jul 15, 2010 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Extremely eye opening and powerful. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Mike M If you're taken aback by the extent of access Longinotto has been granted - to staff meetings, still-bloody crime scenes and deeply personal (not to mention, in the context of these children's development, *crucial*) counselling sessions - you're swiftly reassured by the methods employed that she's the ideal filmmaker for this particular milieu. A good, patient listener, holding her camera on her subjects' faces and never once letting herself (or us) get distracted, she's also every bit as empowering an optimist as the Aunties themselves prove to be, as the final ten minutes, a celluloid suffused with love, demonstrate beyond all doubt. It's a modestly miraculous documentary, both seeing and showing how, even in the most painful and unthinkable of circumstances, it is still possible to make a difference. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/05/10 Full Review Audience Member These women are real-world heroes. The film as such is less than perfect (a bit disjointed in places as it leaps from the horrific to the merely tragic with too much ease) but the story it tells is both harrowing and deeply uplifting, all the more so for being true. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member The best doco I've seen in a long time. It introduces us to a wonderful bunch of superwomen who spend their time working to improve the lives of the most powerless in their community - and not through simple charity, but through support and empowerment - and do so always with love in their hearts. This film is equally heartbreaking and uplifting and I (and my fellow viewers) didn't want it to end. N.B. I don't give 5 stars. Well, I didn't, until now. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Rough Aunties

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Rough Aunties

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Movie Info

Synopsis The Bobbi Bears, multiracial women in Durban, South Africa, devote their lives to rescuing and providing a safe haven for abused children.
Director
Kim Longinotto
Producer
Teddy Leifer, Paul Taylor
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Zulu
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 4, 2020
Runtime
1h 44m
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