Si le vent soulève les sables

I saw this film at the Palm Springs Film Festival and was fortunate to also participate in the Q&A session after the film with the director. This was a very good film about the struggles within the small villages in Africa that are lacking access to water. The film deliberately does not state a particular region of Africa because the story can be applied to almost anywhere across the continent. The film was really well casted and the cinematography was well depicted. I especially enjoyed the musical soundtrack. Bring a bottle of water with you to see this film because it will make you thirsty! We forget how difficult life is for others in regions of the world we are not very familiar with and I love these types of movies that remind us to remember others and their struggles. It is heartbreaking to think hundreds of thousands of people are struggling as those in this movie. The story focuses on one family in a village that decides to travel across a desert in search of water wells. There are no roads and no one can be trusted so their decision is life threatening but must be done because of the lack of water in their own village. The family crosses the desert and suffers tragedies along the way that bring you emotionally into the movie. There was one scene we had to laugh about, in the desert when the father and daughter were resting and leaning on the camel with a little make shift shade cover; they were on the wrong side of the camel because the other side had a LOT more shade then the sunny side they were on. Strongly recommend everyone to support films like this one, it's so important for us to help our neighbors and not just the ones with resources we want.

An extraordinary film that deserves much wider viewing. Watch it without knowing anything about what happens. It took my breath away, and it reminded me that when I pour a glass of tap water and drink it I am amazingly lucky. I found it funny that one person has slated it on the grounds that it was made by a 'middle-aged woman' (horror!) and contains poor 'French-speaking Africans'. Hilarious! As a middle-aged woman whose father was from Africa, yep, there are over ninety million French-speaking Africans, and some of them are poor. Anyway. This phenomenally talented film director and her wonderful creative team deserve every single one of these stars.

I guess some did not think much of this movie. I disagree. I thought this movie was very well done. The family and their livestock are forced to move to where water is available since their well is running dry in the desert. The trials and tribulations they go through finding water to live on is quite a story. The family pays a terrible price traveling in this harsh desert land. They run into ruthless characters and have to pay a horrendous price making their way through the desert. I felt the story was told well and the actors did a great job portraying the characters, especially the father and daughter. I thought the daughter's performance was eye opening. The photography was outstanding. I recommend this movie to all peoples. The movie is happy, sad and quite emotional. See it.

I saw this at the 36th International Film Festival of Rotterdam.

It's a romanticized film made by a middle aged western woman aimed at...middle aged western women. It's filled with clichés about the way (rich) people from the West view Africa. The actors speak French: yeah like well clothed, French speaking Africans have to cross a desert to find water. Add in war, child soldiers etc. and an "artistic" soundtrack and the target audience will love it. Naturally in the end the main characters get saved by white people from the West. The actors acted unnatural but did a good job sticking to the silly script. Rated this a 2 because the animals acted well. For the rest it's "artistic" pulp.

This heartbreaking film brings home the series of tragedies that can easily strike thousands if not millions of simple families during a time of drought and strife in East Africa. After viewing this film, I have a totally altered perspective when I hear news of any kind of conflict or movement of people in that region. This is a European production and the family whose tragedies we endure speak French. The acting was good and my English subtitles were coherent and legible, as a non-French speaker the language being spoken was irrelevant to me. I realize this might be a different case for others. The isolation and simplicity of this family's world and life was exceptionally well presented by writer/director Marion Hansel. Life and death choices made in complete ignorance, the randomness of the other people they came in contact with, and the randomness of the life altering results. It will leave you shaken by the cruelty that we as people are capable of. It is visually appealing as well, the stark desert landscapes are utilized well. When I saw this film at the Seattle International Film Festival a few years back, it was easily my favorite out of over 100 films that I had viewed at that year's festival.