Leper

"Other diseases eat you up inside and leave you beautiful on the outside," says one of the interviewees in filmmaker Ellen Bruno's affecting profile of a modern community of lepers living in a remote village in Nepal. Interweaving footage capturing the day-to-day lives of inhabitants (a fingerless woman hand-washing clothes, another making sweets for a Hindu holiday, residents playing games, etc.) together with heartrending interviews, Leper provides a quietly harrowing beyond-the-physical look at both the devastating psychological damage (self-inflicted or brought on by others) and extraordinary resilience of these ostracized men, women, and children, many of whom were literally banished from their homelands. Although we now know that leprosy is a non-contagious, treatable condition, the stigma of the disease--due to lingering superstitions and unfamiliarity with advances in modern medicine--continues to stick to the unfortunates interviewed here. "In my village, they said I angered the spirits," says one, while another observes, "If God turns his back on you, it's only natural for people to do the same." Despite the sad comments, Bruno nevertheless manages to find grace notes and even flickering rays of hope in these people, brought together by shared misfortune, who have created new families and rewarding relationships. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)