The premise of this fable is as simple as it is powerful: in an African country torn by civil war, a sixteen-year-old orphan is asked by his blind grandfather to execute the man who killed his father. Of course, Atim, the young one, having been brought up along "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" lines, does not object in the least and, armed with the gun of his own father, hits the road to accomplish his mission. It does not take him long to trace Nassara, the war criminal in question. However the man is in no way the monster Atim expected to meet. On the contrary, Nassara has become a respectable married baker, whose young wife is pregnant. The ex-killer even goes to the mosque and gives alms to the poor children of his village. But Atim knows all too well that this good man once made HIM an orphan so the best thing to do is to offer his services to the baker who accepts to hire him as his apprentice. This way Atim will be able to gun him down easily when the appropriate time comes. But things do not go according to plan. Do they ever
?
For, little by little, and very paradoxically indeed, a son-father relationship is born, and it becomes more and more impossible for Atim to kill Nassara .On the other hand, the young man does not want to betray his grandfather. You could think this is a no way out situation but Mahamat Saleh Haroun has imagined an amazing finale in which he enables his hero to square the circle: by pretending to execute Nassara in front of his grandfather who remember is blind. Satisfied with the two bangs he hears, the grandfather feels revenged while Atim has spared the life of the man he has learned to know.
The moral of the fable is clear: forgive your enemies, try to live together in peace, this is the only way to unify your country, to make it become a democracy. Of course all this sounds a bit saintly, not to say goody-goody, but Haroun is neither wet nor soft-headed. If Nassara can be forgiven it is because he has become another man, and pardon constitutes a long and difficult process. Moreover, it is not always possible, for instance for the vile, arrogant, gun crazy soldier Atim meets in the "taxi brousse". When after being threatened and humiliated by him, the orphan meets him again, he beats him up (and maybe kills him) without being explicitly condemned by the writer/director.
Mahamat Saleh Haroun is a courageous artist. Indeed it takes tremendous energy to manage to make a film in a poor country , ravaged by civil war for four decades, like Chad. Moreover he doesn't shy away from burning issues, for he doesn't rub everybody up the right way.
As a filmmaker, he proves able, particularly good when it comes to directing the actors. I suppose the persons who act in this film are amateurs but you would never say so, convincing as they are.Haroun has indeed managed to make Ali Bacha Barkaï really impressive as the troubled gun-toting teenager, although he lets him be too invariably sulky to be perfect. Youssouf Djaoro, for his part, captures to perfection all the strengths and weaknesses of his character and deserves a best actor award, although I am pretty certain he will never get any.
The only real flaw (but a serious one I am afraid) is the film's lazy rhythm. Too bad because, except during the last ten minutes, this viewer was more interested than captivated, more respectful than overcome by emotion. All the same "Daratt" is well worth seeing and is a good insight into a country most of the time ignored by the media. So feel free to see it.
For, little by little, and very paradoxically indeed, a son-father relationship is born, and it becomes more and more impossible for Atim to kill Nassara .On the other hand, the young man does not want to betray his grandfather. You could think this is a no way out situation but Mahamat Saleh Haroun has imagined an amazing finale in which he enables his hero to square the circle: by pretending to execute Nassara in front of his grandfather who remember is blind. Satisfied with the two bangs he hears, the grandfather feels revenged while Atim has spared the life of the man he has learned to know.
The moral of the fable is clear: forgive your enemies, try to live together in peace, this is the only way to unify your country, to make it become a democracy. Of course all this sounds a bit saintly, not to say goody-goody, but Haroun is neither wet nor soft-headed. If Nassara can be forgiven it is because he has become another man, and pardon constitutes a long and difficult process. Moreover, it is not always possible, for instance for the vile, arrogant, gun crazy soldier Atim meets in the "taxi brousse". When after being threatened and humiliated by him, the orphan meets him again, he beats him up (and maybe kills him) without being explicitly condemned by the writer/director.
Mahamat Saleh Haroun is a courageous artist. Indeed it takes tremendous energy to manage to make a film in a poor country , ravaged by civil war for four decades, like Chad. Moreover he doesn't shy away from burning issues, for he doesn't rub everybody up the right way.
As a filmmaker, he proves able, particularly good when it comes to directing the actors. I suppose the persons who act in this film are amateurs but you would never say so, convincing as they are.Haroun has indeed managed to make Ali Bacha Barkaï really impressive as the troubled gun-toting teenager, although he lets him be too invariably sulky to be perfect. Youssouf Djaoro, for his part, captures to perfection all the strengths and weaknesses of his character and deserves a best actor award, although I am pretty certain he will never get any.
The only real flaw (but a serious one I am afraid) is the film's lazy rhythm. Too bad because, except during the last ten minutes, this viewer was more interested than captivated, more respectful than overcome by emotion. All the same "Daratt" is well worth seeing and is a good insight into a country most of the time ignored by the media. So feel free to see it.