London River

We enjoyed this touching film immensely. It was well written, well acted and well directed with a humanist representation of parental love, multiculturalism and xenophobia in today's London. The multilingual aspect was wonderful, and it is possibly more fun to watch it without subtitles so that just like in real life you cannot understand what is being said in languages that you don't speak. Both Brenda Blethyn and Sotigui Kouyaté were excellent with their understated portrayals of parents from very different backgrounds who meet on common ground. The underlying tensions of the plot is developed through the film, which remained believable throughout. Highly recommended.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Elisabeth (Brenda Blethyn) lives a reclusive life on the shores of Guernsey, until her life is torn apart when she learns of the July 7th terror attacks in London, where her daughter lives. Meanwhile, Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyate) is a black Muslim immigrant from France who has also come to London to look for his son, who he has not seen from birth. When he discovers a photo and some contact details, he gets in touch with Elisabeth and they embark on a soul shattering quest to find their flesh and blood that takes them on a journey of discovery and hope, to the gravest depths of despair.

In the extras section of the DVD, even Blethyn herself comments on doubts she had about accepting the script for London River, on account of how close it was to the attacks and the official enquiry etc. not coming out. But it's good that she pushed her doubts aside, because her performance is one of the more compelling things about this old fashioned feeling drama, tending to headlines from very recently. With the feel of some TV drama from the early 90s, director Rachid Bouchareb has laced his daring and challenging drama with some personal touches here and there that give it a neat feel of it's own. The execution never hits with it's maximum impact, and it's over too quickly to really make it shine. But the subtle, under-stated performances from the two lead actors and it's realistic feel of a tragedy and the cruelty of life unfolding lift it well above average. ***

In the days following the London train bombings,hundreds of people from England,as well as other parts of Europe scrambled anxiously trying to find out about their loved ones. In this story,we get stories of two single parents in search of their children. There is Elizabeth,a fifty something woman,living as far north of the (so called)big,evil city of London,being perfectly content to work the earth on her farm,while Ousmane,a tall,lanky man of African descent is trying to find out about his estranged son,whom he hasn't seen since he left home to work in France,when his son was only six. Through a series of chance meetings, they both find out that the daughter & son were lovers,living together in London. Both travel there in search of their estranged children. Do they find them & find some kind of closure? Brenda Bleythn (Secrets & Lies)is Elizabeth,a woman who obviously fears the unknown. Mali actor, Sotigue Kouyate is Ousmane,a worry worn man,who just wants to live out his days,tending the Elm trees. Also featuring Francis Magee,Sami Bouajila, Roschady Zem & Marc Baylis. Rachid Bouchareb ('Little Senegal')directs from a screenplay written by Zoe Galeron,Olivier Lorelle & Bouchareb. Cinematography by Jerome Almeras,with editing by Yannick Korgoat. This is a heart breaking,but very well written,directed & acted drama of a woman trying to rise above fear & ignorance & banding together with a stranger who is attempting to find some reasoning in the middle of chaos. As this film has no North American distribution,it may be a bit hard to track down (it has been screened mostly at film festivals,and as far as I know,there is no DVD release available). Spoken in English,and French,Arabic & Bambarra with English subtitles. Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains some rather gruesome images of some of the victims of the London train bombings that could be traumatic to young children

London River is a quietly powerful and thought-provoking drama surrounding the aftermath of the London 7-7-2005 bombings.

Brenda Blethyn, ever-watchable, is entirely believable as the distraught mother who cannot trace her daughter, when she sees news footage of the devastation, from her Guernsey home. On the other side of the coin is elderly, black and dread-locked Sotigui Kouyate, trying to contact his son, whom he walked out on when the boy was six, then having been working in France since.

Both end up searching in London, Blethyn doing the rounds of missing person posters and showing photos to everybody she can, in the hope of any piece of news. The paths of these two unlikely kindred spirits cross when it transpires that their two children may have been living together and taking Arabic classes, through their local mosque.

As you can imagine, there's quite a lot of cross-cultural clashes here, not just the black boy, white girl aspect, but also the Muslim element and the thorny issue, particularly at the time when the film is set; terrorism. Could they have been involved, too? The mother knows her daughter and knows she couldn't have been, but the same could not be said about the father...more food for thought.

There's good solid acting from both - Blethyn typically more blubbery and emotional whilst Kouyate, as the sort of wise old sage, takes things more pragmatically and thoughtfully. It's a strange mix if you were to walk in on the film half-way through; follow it from the start and it seems quite natural.

There's been comment that it's contrived in that Blethyn is suddenly able to speak the native French of Kouyate - I don't find that hard to believe at all, not only is she citizen of Guernsey, where French is their official other language but is also physically much closer to France than the U.K. Also, in the day that a woman of her age was educated, she (& myself) learnt a type of 'schoolboy' French - I could understand much of what was being said from my failed 'O' Level, back 30 years ago.

So, a good drama, for what it is. It certainly won't appeal to all, both in subject matter, nor in its slow-ish, measured pace. But for those who enjoy something a bit different, something that shines a new light, perhaps, on a recent piece of our history, plus the acting, then London River has a lot going for it. I viewed it on BBC1.

The bombing of several trains in London in 2005 shocked the world. Rachid Bouchareb's "London River" takes place in the immediate aftermath, with two people from dissimilar backgrounds trying to find out the fates of their loved ones. The protagonists are an English woman (Brenda Blethyn) looking for her daughter, and an African man (Sotigui Kouyaté in his final role) looking for his son. Beyond that, the movie also deals with stereotypes and prejudices, in particular about Muslims. No doubt these sorts of things were personal for the director, as he's an ancestrally Algerian man who grew up in France.

It didn't get a wide release, but deserves recognition. No CGI, fast-paced shots, or pulse-pounding soundtrack, just the focus on how the even affects these individuals. It forces the viewer to ask "What would you do in this situation?"