Directed by Nani Sahra Walker | 95 min | Drama
Some films tell their stories through dialogue. Others allow the images, the silence and the world surrounding their characters to speak.
Nani Sahra Walker's Shakti (Power) belongs firmly to the latter.
Set in Kathmandu, the film follows Durga, a single mother whose life is thrown into uncertainty when her young daughter Lila mysteriously falls ill. What begins as a deeply personal struggle gradually draws mother and daughter into a world where traditional beliefs, spirituality, family, and the search for answers intersect.
However, Shakti is careful about what it reveals; rather than immediately explaining the source of Lila's suffering, Walker allows the audience to experience the uncertainty alongside Durga. The mystery becomes a doorway into a much larger exploration of motherhood, resilience, identity, justice, and the ways people search for healing when conventional answers fail them.
One of the film's most striking qualities is its rich depiction of Nepalese culture. From its opening moments, Shakti immerses the viewer in the traditions and visual textures of Nepal, creating a sense of place that feels integral to the story rather than simply decorative.
The film's opening sequence is particularly memorable for the way it introduces the audience to the beauty and cultural richness of Nepalese marriage traditions. Walker takes the time to let the environment exist on screen, allowing the audience to absorb the details rather than rushing toward the central conflict.
That attention to place continues throughout the film. Keiko Nakahara's cinematography is one of Shakti's greatest strengths. Walker frequently places her characters within expansive environments, allowing the surrounding landscape and architecture to occupy a significant portion of the frame while keeping the characters visually central.
It is a visual approach that gives the film breathing room.
There is something particularly beautiful about watching a character occupy a small portion of a large frame while the world around them tells its own story. In Shakti, that technique creates a constant relationship between the personal and the cultural; the individual struggle unfolding against a much larger world.
The result is a film that can be visually serene even when its subject matter becomes increasingly difficult.
The original score is another important part of the experience. Rather than functioning simply as background accompaniment, the music contributes to the film's emotional identity and helps connect its intimate human story with its broader spiritual atmosphere.
Walker also demonstrates considerable confidence in allowing the film's themes to develop without turning every idea into an explanation. Shakti trusts its imagery, its characters, and its cultural setting to carry meaning.
At the center of that experience is the relationship between a mother and daughter.
Durga's journey is not presented as a simple search for an answer. It becomes a confrontation with questions that extend far beyond one family: Where does healing come from? What happens when institutions fail people? How much strength can a person find when circumstances seem determined to take it away?
These questions give Shakti a weight that extends beyond its immediate narrative.
The film's supernatural elements also provide an intriguing bridge between the modern and traditional worlds. Walker uses that space not merely for mystery, but as part of a broader exploration of belief, trauma, and the human need to find meaning when reality becomes difficult to comprehend.
What makes Shakti particularly effective is that it never feels as though its cultural identity has been added merely to make the film distinctive. Nepal is woven into the film's visual language, atmosphere, and storytelling. There is a clear sense of place from beginning to the end.
Shakti asks its audience to sit with uncomfortable realities while also recognizing the possibility of resilience. Its themes are serious, but Walker approaches them through a cinematic language that remains deeply attentive to beauty, culture, and human connection.
This is a film that leaves the audience with more than the story they came to watch. It leaves behind questions about justice, family, tradition, vulnerability, and the different forms that healing can take.
Nani Sahra Walker's Shakti (Power) is an emotionally charged and visually rich drama that uses the intimate story of a mother and daughter to explore much larger questions about resilience, identity, and the search for redemption.
With its striking cinematography, evocative original score, and remarkable attention to Nepalese culture, Shakti demonstrates a filmmaker with a strong visual voice and a clear understanding of how to make a deeply personal story feel larger than its characters.
.jfif)
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