Film Reviews

Abouna

• Rating:
• Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun.
• Starring: Ahidjo Mahamat Moussa, Hamza Moctar Aguid, Zara Haroun Mounira Khalil, Koulsy Lamko, Garba Issa.
• Details: Fra and Chad / 81 minutes / (No Cert).

A simple yet effective offering, Abouna (Our Father) follows the search by two young Chad boys for their missing father. Fifteen-year-old Tahir (Ahidjo Mahamat Moussa) and his eight-year-old brother Amine (Hamza Moctar Aguid) are shocked when their father decides to leave the family home without warning. Setting out to find him, they discover that he left his job some two years previous and after they think they see him in a film at an open air cinema screening, the boys, in their quest to find out the truth, manage to get themselves in a whole host of trouble. Exasperated by the boys' prank, their mother takes them to a Koranic school where the two are treated with a thinly veiled barbarism. Despite its meagre running time, there's a slow, unhurried air about Abouna. An atmospheric aesthetically stunning film, Haroun has an assurance that belies his experience, while the performances from his two young leads are enchanting. Although not for everyone, Haroun displays an ability to capture the essence of childhood through images and this stark, evocative film deserves a wide audience.

Review by Garreth Murphy