Abouna. (Best of the Year: Behind the Sun).Abouna (reviewed in NI 352) is that rarest of things: an African film we have the chance to see. Set in Chad Chad (chăd, chäd), Fr. Tchad, officially Republic of Chad, republic (2005 est. pop. 9,826,000), 495,752 sq mi (1,284,000 sq km), N central Africa. , it follows two boys' efforts to trace their father who's who's 1. Contraction of who is. 2. Contraction of who has. who's who is or who has who's short for who is, who has. abandoned his family. It is tragic, gently paced and poignant, and has the bonus of a soundtrack by Ali Farka Toure. Director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's focus on everyday life and his use of non-professional actors follows the lead of Iranian cinema, of which Hassan Yektapanah's Djomeh (reviewed in NI 344) is a fine example. It focuses on a desperately lonely Afghan refugee refugee, one who leaves one's native land either because of expulsion or to escape persecution. The legal problem of accepting refugees is discussed under asylum; this article considers only mass dislocations and the organizations that help refugees. working on a remote dairy farm, and it too resists a simple resolution. Brazilian Walter Salles' Behind the Sun (reviewed in NI 344), on the other hand, unwinds the tragic fate of dirt-poor farmers exhausted by work and a blood feud blood feud: see vendetta. . A film that never takes short cuts, never gives anyone less than their due, it stings with the sweat of labour. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion