Sister
Movie · Documentary

"Oh my luck! I'll lose my life... Save me, please God save my life...", a young patient in a rural hospital in Ethiopia whimpers. Her fear is very real in a country where 1 in 27 women die in childbirth-related deaths. "Is my baby alive?" She is scared, in pain and tired after labouring for 24 hours at home. Carried on a wooden stretcher for the four-hour trek to the hospital, when she finally arrives, her baby is dead. Lack of education or investment in healthcare mean that Third World countries have an average maternal mortality rate of 1 in 40 women. In contrast, in the USA it is closer to 1 in 5,000. Behind the statistics there are some incredible people who are taking it upon themselves to try to change this terrible plight. In Cambodia a woman in need of a caesarian section cannot afford the bus to the hospital. Another dies because her placenta does not deliver; she could not reach the hospital because there was no bridge. Local health officer Goitom asks his patient how her first child died. "Like this one" she replies, staring blankly, visibly crushed by the death of her second child. She lives four hours by foot from the hospital. Time is everything; if it had been possible for her to come earlier, her baby could have been saved. If she had come later, she almost certainly would be dead. "When a mother survives you feel great, delighted. But I think it's not enough. A single person can't solve all these problems." Goitom is frustrated, and with pregnancy and childbirth killing more people than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, rightly so. As this moving doc explores the unheard stories of three ordinary people struggling to diminish these unnecessary and tragic deaths, it is clear that what they lack in resources and formal training they make up for in bravery and determination. The result is intimate and emotional; a tribute to courageous self-sacrifice and a cry for help.

2014 · 1h 25m
  • 96%
Starring Jean-François Stévenin, Léa Seydoux, Frédéric Mudry
Director Ursula Meier

Trailers

  • Sister
    Documentary

Related

Cast & Crew

  • Jean-François Stévenin
    Der Koch
  • Léa Seydoux
    Actor
  • F‌M
    Frédéric Mudry
    Actor
  • Kacey Mottet Klein
    Actor
  • Yann Trégouët
    Actor
  • Gillian Anderson
    Actor
  • Johan Libéreau
    Actor
  • Martin Compston
    Actor
  • Ursula Meier
    Director
  • Ruth Waldburger
    Producer
  • Ursula Meier
    Writer

About

Sister

Documentary

"Oh my luck! I'll lose my life... Save me, please God save my life...", a young patient in a rural hospital in Ethiopia whimpers. Her fear is very real in a country where 1 in 27 women die in childbirth-related deaths. "Is my baby alive?" She is scared, in pain and tired after labouring for 24 hours at home. Carried on a wooden stretcher for the four-hour trek to the hospital, when she finally arrives, her baby is dead. Lack of education or investment in healthcare mean that Third World countries have an average maternal mortality rate of 1 in 40 women. In contrast, in the USA it is closer to 1 in 5,000. Behind the statistics there are some incredible people who are taking it upon themselves to try to change this terrible plight. In Cambodia a woman in need of a caesarian section cannot afford the bus to the hospital. Another dies because her placenta does not deliver; she could not reach the hospital because there was no bridge. Local health officer Goitom asks his patient how her first child died. "Like this one" she replies, staring blankly, visibly crushed by the death of her second child. She lives four hours by foot from the hospital. Time is everything; if it had been possible for her to come earlier, her baby could have been saved. If she had come later, she almost certainly would be dead. "When a mother survives you feel great, delighted. But I think it's not enough. A single person can't solve all these problems." Goitom is frustrated, and with pregnancy and childbirth killing more people than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, rightly so. As this moving doc explores the unheard stories of three ordinary people struggling to diminish these unnecessary and tragic deaths, it is clear that what they lack in resources and formal training they make up for in bravery and determination. The result is intimate and emotional; a tribute to courageous self-sacrifice and a cry for help.

96%

TOMATOMETER
Average 7.8
Reviews 69
Fresh 66
Rotten 3

Information

Studio
Journeyman Pictures
Released
2014
Run Time
1 hr 25 min
Rated
NR
Regions of Origin
United States, Switzerland, France
© 2012 SISTER Films, LLC

Languages

Original Audio
English, French
Audio

English (United States) (AAC, ⁨Dolby 5.1⁩)

Subtitles

English (CC)

Accessibility

Closed captions (CC) refer to subtitles in the available language with the addition of relevant non-dialogue information.
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Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bahrain
  • Botswana
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Cape Verde
  • Egypt
  • Eswatini
  • Gambia
  • Ghana
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • India
  • Israel
  • Jordan
  • Lebanon
  • Mauritius
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Niger (English)
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Africa
  • Sri Lanka
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uganda
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Zimbabwe

Asia Pacific

  • Australia
  • Cambodia
  • Fiji
  • 香港 (廣東話–繁體)
  • Indonesia (English)
  • 日本
  • Lao People's Democratic Republic
  • 澳門 (廣東話–繁體)
  • Malaysia (English)
  • Micronesia, Federated States of
  • Mongolia
  • New Zealand
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • 대한민국
  • 台灣
  • Thailand
  • Turkmenistan
  • Vietnam

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