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Bookmark this pageWaiting for Happiness (2002)
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
A town, flanked on one side by the Mauritanian desert, on the other by the Atlantic. Some, like young Abdallah, who's already spent so long away he can't speak his family's language, are passing through en route to Europe. Others, like the Chinese street vendor, just seem to have washed up here. Then there are the townsfolk - Maata, for instance, the electrician Abdallah's mother hires to fix some lighting for the teenager to read his books, and his assistant Khatra, a chirpy kid who himself may well want to move on one day. This lovely first feature from one of African cinema's brightest rising stars offers a wondrously subtle account of themes - communication breakdown, the importance of tradition, the perils of exile - which in most other hands might have ended up as aheavy-handed sermon. Sissako wisely prefers to make points through visual and aural poetry, narrative ellipsis and a good deal of deadpan humour. On the whole, dialogue is less revealing than faces, space, pace, light, colour and music, much of it superb. At the same time, no especially deep knowledge of African culture or mythology is necessary, like it was for, say, Yeelen. The looming ships, the flirtations over tea, the girl learning a song from her mentor speak volumes, as, sadly, does a body found at the meeting place of sky, sea and sand.Author: GA
User reviews of this film
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- I'm not easily impressed. said...
- Posted on Jan 22 2012 00:54 I'm not easily impressed. . . but that's ipmreissng me! :)
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Cast & crew
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Cast: Khatra Ould Abdel Kader, Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed, Fatimetou Mint Ahmeda, Nana Diakite, Makanfing Dabo, Santha Leng, Baba Ould Mini full cast
Duration: 96 mins
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