EN ATTENDANT LE BONHEUR
WAITING FOR HAPPINESS |
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Director:
Abderrahmane Sissako
Screenplay: Abderrahmane Sissako
Cast: Khatra: Khatra Ould Abdel Kader
Maata: Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid
Abdallah: Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mahamed
Nana: Nana Diakité
Soukeyna: Fatimetou Mint Ahmeda
Makan: Makanfing Dabo
Traditional singer: Nèma Mint Choueikh
Awards: FIPRESCI Award (for its exquisite poetic depiction of the
emotional and humorous complications that can arise in the midst of a simple
life), Cannes Film Festival (2002).
Running time: 95 minutes
Production: France/Mauritania, 2002
Rating: Not rated (general audience)
Gauge: 35mm (color)
Language: French & Hassanya
Distributor: New Yorker Films
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"This
is a poetic reflection on the themes of exile, travel, home and displacement.
While the visually exquisite drama requires considerable distillation
and at times seems remote, its impressionistic observations continue
to coalesce and its soulful mood lingers well after the end credits."
David Rooney, Variety. |
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The sandy,
seaside town of Nouadhibou is a jumping off point from West Africa
to Europe and the Americas. Its inhabitants, many recently arrived
or preparing to leave, all hope for a better future, a longing summed
up by the film’s title, Heremakono (Waiting for Happiness),
a common name for villages in the region. 17-year-old Abdallah comes
to visit his mother before emigrating to Europe. Unable to speak
the local dialect, he keeps to himself, observing the villagers
from a distance, reading and watching French TV. The wide-eyed young
orphan boy, Khatra, apprentice and adoptive son to the wizened electrician,
Maata, waits for and fears Maata’s death, the moment when he’ll
be his own master. A Chinese immigrant gives voice to the feeling
of permanent exile, singing karaoke songs of loss and longing. But
amid this rootlessness, strong traditions live on, handed down for
example from the local folksinger to her young apprentice. In its
structure the film embraces the rhythms of a patient people, while
the dreamlike passage of time and windswept desert locale create
an aura of comforting timelessness, broken only by an exploding
lightbulb or a sudden death. “Maybe,” muses Sissako, “Waiting
is actually the happiness.”
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| PHOTO New
Yorker Films |
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