Pretty Good

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Sweet Dreams is one of the best independent films I have ever seen. Without giving too much away, I will give an over view of the film. It is about these women in Rwanda who want to start a business. This is not something many women do in Rwanda, because everyone is so poor, and men are usually the ones with the job. These women are all a part of a drumming troupe. They decide to open up an ice cream shop, because ice cream does not exist in Rwanda. They go through many complications along the way, but in the end, it all turns out good. The film uses mainly natural lighting. They use long shots, medium shots, and some close up shots. They use mainly eye level shots throughout the film. The editing is cut and cross-cutting. They have some text track that mainly tells where they are or who they are. They use some voice over sounds, but the narration is mainly on screen. Overall, I would highly recommend this film. It was very well made. It makes you feel certain emotions through the film (warning you may cry like I did). Go and watch this film and recommend it to your friends!

Sweet Dreams was an amazing documentary in my opinion and put to light some of the atrocities that happened in Rwanda and the aftermath of people dealing with them. A group of women who drum together, which that in itself is something not very common in Rwanda because drumming is looked at as something only men did, but they took it upon themselves to try and open the first ice cream shop in Rwanda. The women in the film have all gone through different things during Rwanda's genocide and the weight of what they all went through can be seen in how they live their lives. The directors Lisa and Rob Frenchman, brother and sister combo, did a fantastic job in their interviews to get the hurt these people felt and the happiness when it came to something as simple as having a job at an ice cream shop so they can achieve their goals.This film shows the strong feminism movement going on in Rwanda geared towards trying to empower more women. The other strong theme showed in this film would be that of forgiveness. In the film it deals with people trying to live in a community where their neighbors have killed their parents, siblings and other relatives but, they get over it and hug these people and some cases invite them for food. In showing these things in the film the directors have given us this work of art to show just how strong the human spirit can be.

Sweet Dreams is a beautifully made movie. The movie highlights the struggle of the genocide Rwanda went through and how the Rwandans built the country back up from ashes. It has only been one generation, a little over 20 years, and the country has already started to build itself back up. Lisa and Rob Fruchtman, the sister-brother director team, did a great job showing how Rwanda and its people are still dealing with the genocide. There is a scene in the film in which the people of Rwanda gather and remember all who were lost and all that was done. They take the month of April and remember all who were lost and all that happened. There were many shots of people breaking down, crying, screaming and needing to be taken to the hospital. Hearing their screams and cries from a high angle breaks your heart and makes you realize just how real this was. This wasn't the only part of the movie though this part was a good one to relay Rwanda's struggle and pain. It shows how the country struggles with the memory of the genocide and what the Rwandans saw but continues to rebuild. In Sweet Dreams you watch as a group of about 30 women, who are the first female drumming group in the area, create the first ice cream shop in Rwanda. They're drum leader, Kiki, is the one who came up with the idea. The group works with an ice cream shop in New York to bring ice cream to all the Rwandans. Issues occur but the women, who have lived through genocide, work through them including a broken ice cream machine the week before opening the store. The women bring ice cream to Rwanda to bring joy to the people and new business to the Rwanda economy in an effort to help rebuild the country. Sweet Dreams is a strong and powerful movie that taught me even after the unimaginable happens you can rebuild and make it through anything.Lisa Fruchtman discovered this story in 2009 and called Rob who lived in New York. He went to the ice cream shop in New York City to talk to the owners about the story. As it happens Kiki was there and the directors were able to get her side of the story as well. The film took three years to film and involved a lot of traveling from Rwanda to the US. It's a well-made movie and I would suggest it is worth your time to watch.