Jake Sulpice

jake@jakesulpice.com

The Gravedigger's Wife

Watched on


I’m 45 years old, and I hunt dead bodies for a living. I have a son that I can’t be an example for. My wife’s health is getting worse. With all these issues, I can only try to stay sane.

A beautifully simple story stripped down to the essentials. The husband has a wife with a treatable disease but does not have the money to cure her, yet he does everything he can to do so. The Gravedigger’s Wife is a chronicle of love, sacrifice, and struggle in one of the most hostile countries in the world. Guled, a hard-working gravedigger in Djibouti, takes you on a restless journey as he strives to get the medical care his wife desperately needs to survive.

I had a lot more written about this film before posting this review here but opted to delete most of it as I would rather not dilute the story’s essence. It’s too late at night to write an entire essay to touch each attribute that made this film what it is.

Watch it for yourself; it’s an inspirational movie about a strong woman in Nasra and a husband who will go to any lengths for her well-being. It touches on family dynamics, the struggle of living in Somalia, determination to survive, and much more in 82 minutes.

The Gravedigger’s Wife is a tremendously impactful film that I can hardly believe is a directorial debut.


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