★ 8 / 10
A desperate odyssey
Ousmane, a young Senegalese albino, and his mother Aïchata flee their homeland to escape marginalization and death threats from local sorcerers. They embark on…
Ousmane, a young Senegalese albino, and his mother Aïchata flee their homeland to escape marginalization and death threats from local sorcerers. They embark on a perilous journey to Europe. Their crossing of the desert confronts them with constant dangers and the cruel indifference of unscrupulous individuals.In his sublime poem, Ousmane wrote his self-portrait; in the finale, these deeply moving lines are heard again , but the ending is modified : after an extrordinary odyssey ,the umbilical cord is cut,and Ousmane seems ready for another kind of love and effection .Even though the future is uncertain.Since his birth ,Ousmane has been an outcast so he transferred his need of love to his beloved mother :it's her ugly duckling , rejected by the others , for he is supposed to bring bad luck ;so he decides to leave his native land for Europa, particularly France ;all along this painful odyssey, he will be bullied, held responsible for every problem they meet along the way ;only his mother remains by his side ; in Fez, they try to work to make money to pay their journey to Europa ,but they soon realize they are exploited and they try another way ;still, there's the Melilla wall , built to prevent illegal immigration , between Spain and Morocco . This wall , which is approximately 6 meters high , was erected to counter the attempts by thousands of migrants to cross the border .Mother and son will meet colorful characters: an emancipated girl who dresses as Europeans ,and a naive man who thinks he can become president of the French Republic ,for Barack Obama made it in AmericaThe cinematography is splendid:the night in the desert where Ousmane "a termite-eaten floor" reads his desperate poem , under the stars ;the panoramic view over Fez.Ousmane and his mom will haunt you long after the screening.
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