Chad is a country located on the border between North and Central Africa. It is a huge country with an area of 1.2 million square kilometers (about twenty of the area of Croatia) with about 18 million inhabitants, both Christians and Muslims, between whom conflicts have been going on since they won independence from France in 1960. The civil war in Chad escalated in 2005, and it is precisely in that period that the film that brought Mahamat – Saleh Haroun the most valuable award in his career takes us. He won “A Screaming Man” or “Un homme qui crie” the jury prize in Cannes, and just like practically all his films, now Haorun brings us a story from modern Chad.
Adam is a 55-year-old pool manager at a hotel in the capital that is mostly visited by foreigners. He was once the national champion in swimming and he tells everyone that the pool is his life, and his 20-year-old son Abdel is his assistant. And he’s obviously proud of his job and his life, but his whole world will come crashing down when the hotel is taken over by the Chinese and the new manager demotes it to a parking lot. The new manager of the pool will become his son, and in order to regain his position, Adam will send his son to the army, but very soon he will realize that it was an extremely bad decision.
It is a film that is characterized by authenticity and believability, and Haroun actually made a quiet, calm, slow film about the life of a family, but also the life of a country where civil war is the most normal thing that happens. So it seems that Adam once fought in some kind of war, and still he is obliged to pay some kind of tax to the local commander to finance the army to fight against the rebels. The film is about the relationship between father and son and how for Adam his work is practically more important than his son’s well-being. With this film, we realize that this culture and society is completely different from ours, and Haroun once again confirmed himself as a master in portraying and revealing an Africa completely torn between tradition and the influence of the Western spirit.
Although Haroun does not directly depict the battles of the war, as time passes it becomes clear that the danger is getting closer. The rebels are slowly approaching the capital through the deserts, we see wounded soldiers on the streets, there is an increasing number of UN personnel who are nominally supposed to keep the peace, but mostly they rest and have fun at Adam’s pool. We hear planes flying over the city, refugees are coming to the capital from all sides, and the feeling of guilt takes over Adam more and more. The man who considered himself betrayed and deceived, now slowly realizes that he has become a traitor and that he betrayed his only son for his own interests, and he is aware that he must do the right thing no matter how much it costs him in the end.