Abouna - Nosso Pai

When Tahir and Amine wake up one morning they find their father has already left the house. When he fails to return for their football match they begin to think something is up and their mother is no help, refusing to help find him and hoping to just move past this useless man. However when the two sons start to look for their father they find that he has not been to his job in over two years and they believe that they have seen him in a film shown at a local cinema. When they get in trouble for stealing the film, their mother sends them away to a Koran school where the boys quickly realise that things will not be as good as they have been told.

Although I do not know a great deal about Chad other than where it is, it is hard not to spot that a story that contains such things as a lack of a leadership role and the dream of getting to the sea (that represents a new world) clearly has some other meaning beyond the narrative that applies to the landlocked African country. However, beyond the most obvious of metaphors, I wasn't able to read a lot of the finer points in the film but this did not mean that I wasn't able to enjoy it, because I was. The story is still an interesting one even if some subtexts went over my head. The emotions and plights of the characters are easy to read and are engaging throughout. Ali Farka Toure's score is as haunting as much of his music and it aids the emotional impact of the film without ever making it cloying or manipulative.

Moussa's Tahir is convincing and engaging while Aguid plays the little brother role well enough to steal the audience heart but without making it into a simple "cute kid" performance that is often the result of Western child performances in films. The support cast are all pretty good and everyone, from the leads to the smallest roles, come over as natural and realistic. However the main stars of the film for me were the director and the cinematographer because they produce a beautiful film that frames shots fantastically while also bringing out colour and places really. It is the sort of film you could take screenshots of and use them as pictures in your home.

Overall this is a great film that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. Watching this film and countless others like it from Africa you do have to wonder why Bob Geldof decided that loads of singing white people was the best way to raise awareness of Africa – Live8 is fine but why not get the global cinema chains to buy in with screenings of films like this with all proceeds going to the poverty campaign? Anyway, regardless of that this film will become known with time because it is strong enough to do the rounds. I may not know a lot but the metaphors are clear to read although, even without them the film is a haunting and beautiful piece that is well worth trying to find.

I read that this was the first feature length film from Chad (meaning, fully financed, with most cast/crew from Chad). So it is worth seeing just for that, to honor the filmmakers who, amidst all endeavours of making a film in a country that lacks resources for local cinema, were able to get things done. But one thing that struck me the most, technically, was the lighting in this film. Using layered structures of fore and backgrounds, for instance a character would be in the foreground sitting in a dark room by the window. He would appear as a dark silhouette, surrounded by a dark room, but in the back ground we see the view from outside the window. They obviously set their light exposures to outside to get the effect, but it is noticeable because of it being used several times. This and many other conscious decisions comment on the abilities of the filmmakers and their wilingness to employ the tricks of the trade, even if local cinema in Chad is very new.

Jesus Christ this was boring.

I don't really know anything about the conditions of African cinema, but I can't imagine they exactly have a bustling industry, so I wouldn't want to go too hard on this.

But man it was boring.

The narrative forgets what it's doing every 20 minutes to go in a completely different direction, and doesn't end with any kind of satisfying resolution at all, the two brothers have virtually no character other than a desire to find their dad, and god is it shot so basically.

This is in addition to the fact that the younger kid's acting is frankly terrible, although everyone else is quite good, he does really drag down some scenes. There was one moment between these two kids that really came across as very realistic and genuine to me, as someone with a little brother, but that was kind of it.

I guess the soundtrack was okay too?

Oh well, sorry if this is considered a masterpiece of African cinema or something, but I didn't get along with it.

For a film with a relatively short 84 minute running time Abouna (Our Father) felt like an eternity.

It follows the (mis)fortunes of 2 young boys after the disappearance of their father, whom I assume had gone accross the Chadian(?) border to look for work abroad.

The direction is pretty good and features some beautifully constructed shots of the Chadian landscapes. The beginning and the end are well paced but the whole middle section of the film drags on forever. Special mention goes to the young girl who plays the deaf mute, she was fantastic.

Still, it is worth going to see even if it's just to drag you out of the multiplex and into your local art-house!

This movie confused me to no end. I consider myself pretty intellectual and cultured, so I hope it's not just me. I was enjoying it very much, the storyline was progressing beautifully, and the imagery was gorgeous. The performances of the two young boys, and the deaf-mute girl are also worth noting. Then all of a sudden the plot took a sudden turn I wasn't expecting, and I just became extremely confused, a feeling which settled in and remained for the last half of the film pretty much. I would recommend this movie to people who would enjoy it purely for its visual value, and I would not recommend it to people who get confused by most foreign films, because this one will definitely be over their heads.