Peruvian Film About Rape Wins Top Prize at Berlin

A Peruvian film with the English title "Milk of Sorrow" won the top prize, the Golden Bear, at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.

The awards were announced on February 20, but U.S. press coverage of the Berlin festival is so absurdly minimal that it took almost two weeks for me to learn about it -- and I live in the media colossus of New York City.

What a perfect example of the way that Americans ignore the rest of the world. Cinephiles the world over pay rapt attention to Berlin, but American journalists don't even know or care. Contrast this with the orgy of attention Americans give to their own awards programs, e.g. the Oscars and Golden Globes, and it becomes even more perverse.

The winning film's Spanish title is "La Teta Asustada," which literally translates as the frightened breast. That is the name Andean Indians have given for a condition afflicting many young women whose mothers were raped by Shining Path guerrillas during Peru's long civil war. The girls' lives become subsumed by the fear of rape.

Director Claudia Llosa made her first film, "Madeinusa," just a few years ago. She was born and raised in Peru but now lives mostly in Spain. Let's watch to see if "Milk of Sorrow" ever finds a U.S. distributor.

The Berlin jury was headed by English actress and Oscar winner Tilda Swinton.