"Shakti is the debut feature from Nepalese writer-producer-director Nani Saadat Walker. It follows a single mother in Nepal who is drawn into a supernatural underworld of shamans and secrets when her mischievous daughter falls mysterious ill. That synopsis makes the film sound like some sort of horror film, but it's actually more of a slow burn social drama, which travels through a world of tradition and folklore in order to investigate the changing face of Nepal, through the eyes of different generations of women, and the emotional and political realities of their lives. It's a film which takes its time to introduce us to these characters, their interactions, their relationships and the challenges they face before the film has even started, before then introducing new challenges and revealing the real focus of the film, which I'm not going to get into here. But I will say that the reality of the last third of the film hits hardest because of the time spent carefully introducing and making us care for these characters, and by doing so it successfully and gently makes the political personal, and that is how you get a message across, with love, not anger. Shakti is a beautifully made film about a culture in flux, which speaks gently, calmly and brilliantly what it's heart's screaming out to say. If you like films like I'm Not A Witch or Much Loved, then you'll likely like this, so check it out, we are IndieMDB, for everything indie."