Forever ago (like seriously a decade or more) i read a review about a nigerian short film where this writer was almost afraid to say anything about it whatsoever. It was just several paragraphs of whishy washy 'i don't think i'm the person to discuss this' and 'i'm not sure i can ever truly understand this film.' Which was wild when i finally watched the film in question and it was a fairly straight forward eco-disaster post apocalyptic dystopian narrative. With a few spiritual elements that don't come across in fine detail to my white western ass, but nonetheless were readable on a surface level even with limited understanding of the deeper symbolism.
Granted i am very science fiction inundated so i am well familiar with those genre conventions as a whole even when there is cultural varience. The themes of ecological disaster, goverrment censorship, and post apocalyptic journeys to maybe save the world, are not unheard of in the west even outside of science fiction.
There is often this reluctance from my fellow american white people to comment on or talk about the storytelling from other cultures. Unless it's something that has become wildly popular like anime or k-dramas, where there are many resources for quick introductions to genre conventions and culture, there is this fear of not understanding a story coupled with a fear of any ignorance coming across as offensive. So people just don't engage with it.
