When the Stars Meet the Sea (1996)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- According to popular belief, a child born during an eclipse possesses incredible destructive power. The baby must spend a whole night in a stable, among the cows and be trampled to death by them or survive to become a man like the others. A woman saves him from the cows and changes his fate. Kapila will survive. But because of the curse of his birth, he possesses a power that no one has mastered.
- Actors:
- Jean Rabenjamina, Joseph Rainizatilehy, Aimée Alice Razafindrasoa, Louis Vahandanitra, Rondro Rasoanaivo, Christiana Rason Harimalala, Barbara Razanajao
- Directors:
- Raymond Rajaonarivelo
- Producers:
- Jacques Le Glou
- Writers:
- Santiago Amigorena, Raymond Rajaonarivelo
- Aka:
- Quand les étoiles rencontrent la mer
- Genres:
- Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
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Reviews (1) of When the Stars Meet the Sea
Sacred Water, Distant Skies - When the Stars Meet the Sea review by griggs
Madagascar makes for a striking backdrop — all sun-baked mesas and endless horizons — and When the Stars Meet the Sea certainly knows how to use it. Raymond Rajaonarivelo builds his story around elemental imagery of sky, sea, and the dry land caught between, with the ocean cast as a kind of spiritual homecoming. It’s a premise rich in potential, yet the execution never quite matches the poetry of the concept.
Kapila, a lame boy saved from an infant death curse, is an engaging enough protagonist, but his quest for identity unfolds at a measured pace that too often slips into inertia. The tension between tradition and modernity is there, but it’s painted in broad strokes, with the characters sometimes feeling more like archetypes than people.
Visually, the film is often beautiful, and the cultural specificity refreshing, but the narrative doesn’t always carry the weight of its symbolism. As an introduction to Malagasy cinema, it’s interesting; as a piece of storytelling, it feels more like a postcard than a journey.