Tirailleurs

Father & soldier is a linear and no-nonsense film, which radically positions itself "AGAINST" - war, blind obedience to orders, colonialism, the exploitation of men by other men, military and political rhetoric - which makes it actual. The direct comparison between these issues and that atavistic African wisdom that knows how to recognize and defend what is truly important - to be united, to protect one's family, to lead one's life with dignity and respect - is striking. 1917, Senegal. The French army kidnaps young people from villages to forcefully enlist them and send them to fight in the Great War. Bakary would like to protect his son Thierno but fails to free him from the French colonial gang and to stay close to him he in turn enlists and sends him to the same African platoon. Mathieu Vadepied, the director and writer, adheres to his characters and throws them into a story that seems to be developing by the minute. Omar Sy plays the role of Bakary dusting off the Fula language of his origins and takes the risk of losing the immense popularity he has in France to rigorously criticize the French colonial policy and the enormous hypocrisies in the management of the relationship with African immigrants. Father & soldier is a film of few words and few events necessary to illustrate the parable of Thierno, torn between love for his father and the desire to emancipate himself from his authority in order to become a man finally. Even the seduction of the army's promises to guarantee French citizenship to the colonized African soldiers, once the war is won, refers to current events and how African immigrants look at integration in their host country with a mixture of desire and mistrust.

This film comes from French territory with the intention of taking a different look at France's participation in The Great War. The plot of a father and son who are taken from Nigeria to face a terrible war offers enough to make this a moving and tragic story, not forgetting to mention an ode to the soldiers fallen in battle whose identities have not been identified. It has good actors and good production to make this a good war movie. The bad thing is that there are few combat scenes and we mostly see the father and his son in many conversations, training and trying to survive in the hope of fleeing, although the son is slowly adapting to his new environment. It is a film that gives more priority to the uncomfortable and hostile situation that both protagonists experience, trying to make someone imagine what it would be like to be on a lethal battlefield with their son. It is not an exciting story of father and son facing war, but it is a war story that serves to take a look at one of the events that occurred in France during the war. My final rating for this movie is an 8/10.

Tirailleurs visits an often forgotten part of WWI : the fate of the African men who were kidnapped and forced to fight for the west. The premise promises to be heart-breaking, certainly, but the film adds poetry and humanity to this dark chapter in history.

Omar Sy and Alassane Diong act brilliantly as a father and son duo, making conflicting choices in a tragic situation. The film explores the many (sometimes contradicting) ways in which one can be brave; it's a story about the meaning of moral integrity and the will to survive, wether physically or in memory.

As per usual in french cinema, the movie is slow, and the themes are subtle. One has to contemplate, more than just watch. However, I do think it remains accessible to the general public, as long as you expect a drama rather than an action-packed experience. Maybe not a fun movie, but an important one.

Another "awesome" moment of the French history... Not only did we colonise countries that didn't need us there, but we also kidnapped their kids, forced them into our armies, and sent them to the French front during World War I. "Fun" fact, we had promised them French nationality and help with their life later on... Which we never actually did. And to add to all this, we of course never talk about it in our History books. The movie is based on this premise, how a father, followed his kidnapped son, to a training camp, where he saw his son being manipulated into thinking it was his fight, and sacrifice his life for the greater good of a France he only saw to be weaponised. The story is a very sad one, but most of all, a story that needs to be told a lot more. Omar Sy is incredible in this movie, a great actor, with a depth that we are not used to see him play, as he is usually a lot more in comedy movies. His son is played by his nephew, which helps a lot in the relationship that you see on screen. All actors are very good in the movie. However, the movie is very long, and very slow, which is a shame for a movie with a great story and great actors. Do you need to see it? Yes, it's a piece of History that tends to be forgotten. Will you like it? No clue, but I came out of the cinema being quite disappointed.

I feared the worst before watching this movie. But it is neither a heavy-handed humanist manifesto, nor a simplistic anti-colonialist tract. It is a poetic rendering of a quest by a African man to save his son.

A word of caution for those allergic to subtitles: 80% of the dialog is in peul, a language that Omar Sy seems to speak fluently, despite being born In Trappes, France. This is also the only language his character speaks and understands, making his comprehension of the war extremely simplistic, despite his real intelligence and moral fibre.

The character's obsession is saving his son. That's why he enlisted in the first place. (His son was enrolled by force). But his son... Well watch the movie.

There are moments of pure poetry, the sound track adds a layer of weird to the already nightmarish and foreign environment.

Some people regret the movie isn't explicit enough in denouncing the evils of colonialism. Bei'g already convinced of that, I prefer not to be lectured at.