CRI DU COEUR
France, 1994, 86 minutes, Colour.
Richard Bohringer, Siad Diarra.
Directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo.
Cri du Coeur (Cry from the Heart) is a moving film from the director, Idrissa Ouedraogo, from Bukina Faso. Ueduego made an impression and won many awards with his early films, Yaaba, Tilai Samba Traore. While some of the sequences are filmed in Africa, the bulk of this film is made in France. In fact, the cry from the heart is that of a young boy, transplanted from Africa to the suburbs of Lyons. The film shows something of the African setting and the African traditions and the contrast, very strongly, with life in a French city. The performances of the boy, his mother and father are excellent. However, the film shows something of the welcome that some French communities have given to African families. This is symbolised by the character of a seeming vagrant, a wise older figure, father figure, played by Richard Bohringer (The Cook, the Thief, the Wife and Her Lover, The Accompanist, Subway).
The film is straightforward in its style, focuses on the young boy and his experiences in France, touches something of the surreal with fantasy in showing his experience of seeing a hyena in the streets of the city - whether real, part of his psyche, or in fact part of the spirit world which he is in touch with through his grandfather. The film received a commendation from the international Catholic film organisation OCIC at the Venice Film Festival of 1994.
1.The European settings, the contrast with Africa, the African migrants to the French cities in the '90s?
2.The title, the cry of the heart from the director, from his central character Moktar? The cry from the heart of the audience?
3.The African locations, settings and atmosphere? Lyons and the typical French city, apartments, workplace, schools, the streets? The musical score?
4.The film's focus on Moktar, his life in Africa, his freedom, the clothes that he wore, choosing to go fishing with his friends? The bonds between himself and his grandfather? His mother, the letter from his father, the decision to leave, his regrets? (And the information given that he had come back from France to Africa when five years old?)
5.The portrait of the father, the opening of the film, the decision about sending the letter, his skill at car repair work, his family in France, the five-year absence, his decision to bring his wife and child over, the hard work and his being in charge of the repair work? Personality, style? Welcoming his wife, his love for her, hopes? Their home life? Love for his son, his education? The wife, the joy of going to France, her bond with her son, the hopes, the lifestyle, her working as a maid, going shopping in the supermarket, becoming French?
6.Moktar at school, bright young boy, his friends, pleasant to the teacher, her support? Her concern about him? At home, his clothes, becoming French?
7.The appearance of the hyena, in the street, in passing, his seeing the hyena, his fear? Alert? Asking his parents, their reaction? Hyenas only in the zoo? The discussions with the teacher, the psychiatrist? The psychological explanations - adequate or inadequate?
8.The chance encounter with Paul, Moktar walking into the car, his being saved by Paul, the coincidental second meeting, Paul and his girlfriend, her work, their antagonism, love? Sharing with Moktar, a sense of play, the balloons in the park, their ability to talk to each other, his becoming a father figure?
9.Moktar and his running away from home, going to meet Paul, the big plan to trap the hyena, the failure, its arrival, the trap, the flames, the vision of his grandfather?
10.The death of his grandfather, the letter at home, the news, the grief of the family? The hyena, the spirit links with Moktar?
11.The future of the family? Moktar and his mother and father, their life in France?
12.The film as a symbol of the French community and its attitudes towards African families? Their colonies? Language and culture? Prejudice or not? The welcome, being saviour figures for the Africans trying to settle into France and being transformed?
