Our Father

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.

There is no doubt that "Abouna" (Our Father) is a good African film as it features extremely fine performances from its young actors about a tragic tale which is both inspirational as well as entertaining.As far as inspirational material is concerned,there is a lot to learn in "Abouna" for two brothers named Tahir and Amine as their fragile, innocent lives are transformed as a result of a sudden,unexpected disappearance of their father.One can say that African cinema is full of many ignored masters of cinema.This is the reason why a film based in Africa can never be devoid of cinema.This has been depicted in this film by showing a cinema hall with posters of many great films.It is really a miracle of sorts that Chadian filmmaker Mahamat Saleh Haroun was able to make this film despite numerous financial hardships.As Abouna has been hailed at many film festivals all over the world,it can be said that it can easily be recognized one of those films which has the necessary potential to lead many African film industries on their paths to success.

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.

There can't be many countries in the world that the average Briton knows less about than Chad; indeed, when I saw this film on television, the announcer described the place as part of Cameroon! Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's film is thus interesting as a glimpse of a life rarely seen by westerners; and if at times the characters seem a little short of dialogue and motivation, the imagery is striking and the sentiments heartfelt. 'Abouna' doesn't feel like a finished, polished movie; but there's the talent of it's director is definitely on display, his use of stillness and silence partially offsetting the relative absence of conventional plot.

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.