The Taste of Mango
Chloe Abrahams unearths some painful secrets in her very personal, probing family portrait.
Image courtesy of Conic.
The Taste of Mango is something of an oddity but definitely an intriguing one. On paper it appears to be closely akin in character to the recently released Black Box Diaries. Both films are feature-length documentaries made by filmmakers whose lives have been affected by rape and who now feel compelled to reflect on what this has meant to them by making a film about it. However, the differences between the two works, apparent on several levels, mean that in fact these two pieces could hardly be more contrasted in style and character.
It is, of course, a crucial distinction that the director of Black Box Diaries, Shiori Itō, is herself the rape victim concerned as she tells of how difficult it was to get justice and details the five years that it took her to obtain a victory in court (the rape occurred in 2015). Not surprisingly the tone of her film is very much that of documentary realism. However, in The Taste of Mango the filmmaker, Chloe Abrahams, is focused on a rape that occurred many, many years ago and the youthful victim was not her but her mother, Rozana. Her assailant was her stepfather, a man whom Rozana’s mother, Jean, had married following the tragically early death of her first husband. Featuring this history means that the emphasis here is not on getting justice (that was never achieved) but on the impact that the rape has continued to have over the years affecting the relationship of three key family members, Rozana, Jean and Chloe herself. If that becomes the natural focus, what is more unexpected is that Chloe Abrahams in making her debut feature has given us a work that possesses a distinctly poetic quality. Itō was probably driven to filming in order to make her story more readily available (she had earlier written a memoir about it) but the film made by Abrahams suggests the work of a real artist. In part that is doubtless due to the fact that prior to making it she was already known as a video artist and a portrait painter.
The conversations between Rozana, Chloe and Jean are caught in footage taken on a Sony Camcorder but the film also contains images that contribute greatly to its poetic element. Although most of what we see takes place in Britain which became home to Rozana and which was where Chloe was born, the family came from Sri Lanka, the country where the rape occurred. Indeed, we first see Jean on one of her visits to England and it is the fact that Jean has continued to live in Sri Lanka as the wife of the rapist that has created the lasting tension between her, her daughter and her grandchild. Despite being aware of what happened, she has remained married for forty years to a man who is in all probability a paedophile with victims other than Rozana. Jean’s first husband had been the love of her life, but her second had been sorry for her after his death and she refuses to face up fully to the accusations against him even if she does acknowledge that he has a bad side as well as a good one. Perhaps the closest link with Black Box Diaries is to be found in Jean being influenced by what society expects of her and fearing disapproval if she were to disown her second husband now. She seems to find it easier to block out the truth about him but her attitude over this increases the anger felt by Rozana and Chloe.
Nothing in the film really suggests that Sri Lanka as such has a key place in these events. Nevertheless, Abrahams incorporates footage of it including its greenery and the music score by Suren Seneviratne further underlines this background. Indeed, his fine work here adds much to the sense of this being a film with a poetic sensibility. In contrast to that element, The Taste of Mango has a soundtrack that also contains extracts from a range of songs. These extend from ‘Rose Garden’ to the Presley recording of ‘Can't Help Falling in Love’. Their presence is a reminder of the place that pop music has in daily life and often accompanies footage that reminds us that the family we are watching have the same everyday life as everybody else - even if in their case there is an elephant in the room that cannot be avoided just because Jean does not want to acknowledge it. One sees very clearly how this past history has also had indirect consequences. Although Chloe had sensed early on that something was wrong, it was only when she reached the age of eighteen that her mother had told her about being raped. We learn too that only much later did Chloe admit a teenage indiscretion of her own to Rozana due to her belief that in reacting against what she had seen as her mother being overprotective she had let her down.
It is probably the case that The Taste of Mango works best of all as a portrait of the close bonds that tie the three women together regardless of any conflict between them. But this does come across at the cost of a clear look at other family members who, even if referred to by name, never emerge very clearly. Even comments heard over images are not always without a touch of confusion as Chloe’s own voice-over narration elides with comments made by Rozana. At such moments one feels that Chloe Abrahams is so close to her material that it would have benefited her film and its clarity had she been able to stand back a bit. It's also the case that those pop songs are all comments on love and where love can lead you is arguably a theme here too. Indeed, The Taste of Mango contains so many different aspects that at times it seems to change character from scene to scene. So, it is a curio, but certainly one that blends art and humanity in a real-life tale that is able to end on a positive note and which feels honest.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Rozana Ross, Jean Davidson, Chloe Abrahams, Bethanie Abrahams, Shersen Abrahams, Geoff Ross, Jenita Jeffrie, Lolita Wijesuriya, Devika Jayashinghe, Mira Mohideen, Ramya De Silva.
Dir Chloe Abrahams, Pro Chloe Abrahams and Elliott Whitton, Written by Chloe Abrahams, Ph Chloe Abrahams, Alice Aedy and John Janssens, Ed Chloe Abrahams, Stella Heath Keir and Isidore Bethel, Music Suren Seneviratne.
Cardamom Films/Fit Via Vi Production/BFI Doc Society Fund-Conic.
75 mins. USA/UK. 2023. UK Rel: 29 November 2024. US Rel: 4 December 2024. Cert. 12A.
