SCI-CULTURA

This is one of those films that I can watch over and over again. More so on a grey, chilly Sunday afternoon. It’s not often that you hear of Chad in an artistic context, less so in film. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s film, Abouna (Our Father) is a captivating piece of visual poetry, with an enchanting soundtrack by the late great Ali Farka Touré to top it off. I was pondering on which adjectives would best convey my sentiments, and quickly resolved that less is more. But I couldn’t resist to append this rave review from the Harvard Film Archive that puts Haroun at the same level as the legendary Ousmane Sembene (Senegal) and another of my favourites, Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania).

[Haroun] excels at spinning narratives that begin with easily recognizable situations – usually the loss of a parent – and expand to encompass allegorical and political reflection on the state of Chadian society. Often calm on the surface, Haroun’s filmmaking belies this calm with simmering strains of anger and melancholy. While occasionally compared to the work of Iranian directors Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, perhaps because of their deceptively quiet surfaces, Haroun’s films recognizably belong to an African tradition of filmmaking stretching from Ousmane Sembene to Abderrahmane Sissako that considers the place of cinema in a postcolonial Africa and, by extension, in a postcolonial world. 

What I particularly love about Abouna, besides that it provides a glimpse into Chad, has a well translated, realistic script, is beautifully shot (and deservedly won best cinematography award at FESPACO), is its simple and universal story at the core. For a synopsis, see here (NB with spoiler). 

Available from Amazon (UK and USA).