Bush Mama
Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima, a UCLA Film Graduate who has been working in this country for the past few years, produced this independent feature in 1975.
Bush Mama focuses on Dorothy, the title character, a black woman living on welfare in Watts, trying to raise her daughter while her man is in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Through Dorothy's eyes we experience the turmoil of life in the ghetto - a world of police violence, welfare offices, unemployment lines, decaying tenements, and social workers - and its impact on ghetto residents, ranging from expressions of black self-hate, or escapist fantasies generated by the oppressive reality, to a growing political awareness of the problems and the need for fundamental social change. Though scripted and professionally acted, Bush Mama has all the immediacy and impact of a documentary, capturing the rich, distinctive style of ghetto language, its despair as well as its humor.