User reviews

POSITIVE REVIEW: Adapted from Marc Durin-Valois' prize-winning novel Chamelle by Belgian director Hänsel, this is the beautiful and moving saga of a little family somewhere in Africa forced to leave home and struggle eastward across the desert with their livestock in search of water. Along the way they endure great loss, danger, cruelty, and heartbreak. This film dramatizes many of the demographic and human problems that face the African continent: drought, revolution, lawlessness, poverty. Hänsel's powerful visual storytelling makes all these things real to us, while bringing alive the drama of human beings. Images are striking, and so are the people, and all the actors are fine, particularly the father Rahn e played by Isaka Sawadogo and his little daughter Shasha played by Asma Nouman Aden. Music is used deftly and economically. This is committed narrative film-making at its best. It brings home major issues but never seems preachy or doctrinaire. At the end, what remains of the family winds up in a UN camp. "This is my Pouzzi," says Sasha, using her pet name for her father. "He looks sad because he has lost his camel." The viewer will remember a series of striking, pathetic tableaux. A heartrending and vividly told tale.

NEGATIVE REVIEW: Shot in Djibouti, Hänsel's film attempts to be universal by being unspecific in locale and by casting the dialogue by all and sundry entirely in rather academic French. Everything is generic and sanitized. If the family is desperately short of water, how come they have full wardrobes of immaculately clean clothes and are perfectly clean themselves? At the outset Rahne meets another man who says they should travel together because it's safer that way. "Yes," Rahne says, "we will travel together. We will leave before dawn to take advantage of the coolness." It's stilted elementary primer language. Even religious phrases that sound Muslim, like "God wishes it so," are said in French, when likely they would be said in Arabic. A bunch of wild looking outlaws speak the same academic French. An online viewer wrote that this is "a romanticized film made by a middle aged western woman aimed at...middle aged western women" and added, "naturally in the end the main characters get saved by white people from the West." And this is true. Hänsel uses the authentic setting and real-looking African actors to make us naive westerners believe that we're watching something real, but it's a downbeat fairy tale, none of which is true to a specific and coherent whole. Sawadogo, by the way, has lived in Norway for the last fifteen years.

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.

The movie is about a poor rural famish family in sub-Saharan Rwandan landscape

A School teacher Rahne (Isaka Sawadogo) and his wife Mouna (Carole Karemeca) are blessed with a girl child Sasha (Asma Nouram Aden). A small family has two other children - both boys. Due to scarcity of water the whole neighborhood decided to move to a place where there is some water available. The family starts its journey with a camel, a few goats and little belongings through the treacherous desert which is rebel infested, war hit, governed by corrupt state arm forces. The unbelievable hardship the family faces - losing their goats one by one, and trading one boy to rebels to cross the border, and another boy shot in front of them by another group of rebels. The burden of leaving behind the wife Mouna to simply die under the tree - because she can not walk further. Soon after Rahne and Sasha collapse in the middle of white desert. without food or water and nowhere to go except ocean of endless white desert around

It is only when UNHCR relief workers pick their bodies up and bring to the relief camp - the father Rahne and daughter Sasha - smile

The movie is very well directed by Marian Hansel who has put GREAT effort in shooting in real locations that are so difficult. BRAVO.

The movie is based on a novel - Chamelle by Marc Durin-Valois, which is based on fictionalized real-life interviews of people at the UNHCR camps

The tragedy of people living in the Northern African continent is so grave - life without enough food/ water and on top of that war.

All "so called" Rich people of the world should die with shame for having even a little more land, money and luxuries more than they need. The movie shows how "poor" the whole world has become in LOVE and caring for others.

The gravity of the problems people face is so GREAT that they do not even have tears to cry - when their own family and folks are seen dying of hunger and war in front of them. Only thing matters for them is - They are alive and should carry on without stopping.

The movie's main focus is on Father, mother and daughter - and all actors have acted brilliantly performing their roles as if they are not actors but real people. Kudos to them..

The movie is beautifully shot with very good music. It is a heart-breaking movie - and I was hoping for a better ending than this.

After seeing this movie - if a person is sensitive - will even think twice before flushing one's toilet - It seems a crime we all commit by being greedy for food and wasting water - we all people living in cities contribute to the murders of millions across Africa.

Who is to blame for this tragedy? RICH countries that care too little...

I will go with 7.5 out of 10 for this masterpiece and letting the world know about the lives of under-developed countries.

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.

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.

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.