Sweetness in the Belly (2019) on Netflix
Abandoned by her parents, Lilly is raised a Muslim at a Moroccan Sufi shrine. She falls for a doctor in Ethiopia and flees the civil war to London as a refugee.
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- Netflix2.4/5
- IMDb5.7/10949 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes40%
Trailer
Plot summary
Lilly, a British girl, is left at a Sufi shrine in Morocco by her parents and raised a Muslim there. In the early 1970s she travels to the Ethiopian city of Harar, where she meets a doctor named Aziz and falls in love with him. When the Ethiopian Civil War begins, the two are separated and Lilly reaches England as a refugee. In London she takes work as a nurse's aide at a hospital and becomes friends with Amina, a fellow refugee who has been traumatized and moves into her home. A kind doctor named Robin shows interest in her, but she holds back, hoping to be reunited with Aziz. Lilly and Amina start an association that helps refugees find scattered family members.
Cast
- Rafael Goncalvesas Ahmed Mergessa
- Estad Tewfik Yusuf Mohamedas The Great Abdal
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Sweetness in the Belly (2019)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film drew backlash and whitewashing allegations over Dakota Fanning playing the lead; Fanning responded on Instagram that her character is a British woman abandoned by her parents at seven in Africa and raised Muslim, not an Ethiopian woman.
- Saoirse Ronan was announced in January 2017 as star of the adaptation, but by November 2018 Dakota Fanning, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Wunmi Mosaku and Kunal Nayyar had joined the cast, with Fanning replacing Ronan.
