leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (06/18/85)
THE MAFU CAGE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
A short simple story with overtones of horror is THE MAFU CAGE, a film
based on a French play. Lee Grant and Carol Kane play the daughters of a
deceased naturalist, who raised them in the jungle with pygmies. Grant
turned out relatively normal and works as a solar astronomer. Kane seems to
demonstrate that you can take the girl out of the jungle, but you can't take
the jungle out of the girl. She has recreated a jungle atmosphere in the
sisters' house and lives much like a wild animal. She is seriously mentally
disturbed. She spends her days by the Mafu cage. "Mafu" is any ape she can
get her hands on from a local supplier (Will Geer). She chains Mafu in a
cage and sketches him. When she tires of that she beats Mafu to death and
buries him in the garden, only to have Mafu reborn when she is next supplied
with another ape.
This idyllic(?) lifestyle is threatened when sister Grant seems to be
amorously interested in a co-worker (James Olsen). Kane feels her safe,
familiar world threatened and decides to defend it. THE MAFU CAGE has more
a mythic feel than one of unpredictability. There never is much doubt as to
what is going to happen next. THE MAFU CAGE is competently acted and
engrossing, but lacks any real depth. Rate it 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper