I, too, am posting this wayyyy late.
Nonetheless, I really liked La Vie Est Belle. As Molly pointed out, we as North Americans are so conditioned to believe that every single African country is full of people who are starving and afflicted with various diseases that we think won't affect us here (even though it's entirely possible). I personally knew that couldn't be true and that it's a stereotype that has been drilled into my head by the media, but it's still hard to overcome that stereotype and not have that thought pass through your head when you hear the name of an African country.
This movie does a really good job, in my opinion, of dismantling that myth and showing that African people can definitely be happy. They might not have the first world luxuries that we're accustomed to, but their happiness is just as fulfilling, in a different way. I love that they make the music they love with whatever they have, during the scene where they're shining people's shoes in the streets to fight for a living. I love that this movie is full of the same theme of love that is overwhelmingly prevalent in Hollywood films, showing that although these people live in an entirely different culture, they too experience some of the same problems and some of the same desires because we're all just human.
Likewise, this film shows that just because we have "North American privilege" doesn't mean that we can't experience the problems the African people do because, again, we're all just human. We too could have to fight for a living cleaning houses and shining people's shoes and acting as a chauffeur for a rich couple with no kids. We're not invincible, and I like to think that I didn't think that before watching this movie, although I know I did to some degree. But this movie really helped me understand that our North American view of African cultures and people is incomplete and skewed.
