FRONTIÈRES
BORDERS |
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Director:
Mostéfa Djadjam
Screenplay: Djadjam & Agnès de Sacy
Cast: Sipipi: Lou Dante
Amma: Clarisse Luambo
Joe: Ona Lu Yenke
Kadirou: Dioucounda Koma
Moussa: Tuene Tadié
Le Marabout: Meyong Bekate
Arvey: Delvelin Matthews
Running time: 105 minutes
Production: France, 2002
Rating: Not rated (general audience)
Gauge: 35mm (color)
Language: French
Distributor: Art Mattan
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"Finely
observed. For his first film, Mostéfa Djadjam hasn’t taken
the easy route. Tackling the delicate problem of illegal immigration,
without resorting to simplification, takes talent, which the director
doesn’t lack." Rémy Batteault, Monsieur Cinéma. |
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Six men and
a woman set out on the hazardous journey from Senegal to Morocco
in a bid to slip clandestinely into Europe. All are lured by the
promise of a better life, but each has particular reasons for risking
life and limb: Joe wants to join his French girlfriend; Amma, furious
at her husband for absconding with her jewelry, aims to track him
down; Sipipi, a sailor, dreams of finding work; Moussa, a teacher,
is demoralized by the impossible task of education in Senegal. Passing
through the hands of various smugglers they cross the deserts of
Mauritania and Algeria, first in a pick-up, then in the back of
refrigerated fish trucks, and are finally dumped in the desert without
a guide and forced to walk. On reaching Tangiers, the invisible
travellers go their separate ways and prepare to attempt the fateful
crossing to Spain. Making his directorial debut, Djadjam, an actor
who has worked with Raoul Ruiz and Merzak Allouache (L’Autre
monde), gives a restrained, compassionate account of what’s
at stake for illegal immigrants, fashioning an ensemble road movie
in which the moment-to-moment experiences of the journey--hiding
from border guards, or sharing a cold beer in the desert--count
as much as the political issues they raise.
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| PHOTO Art
Mattan |
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