SAMBA

France, 2014, 118 minutes, Colour.
Omar Sy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tahar Rahim, Izia Higilin.
Directed by Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano.

It is reported that Les Intouchables/The Intouchables has sold over 50 million tickets around the world. Audiences responded to the story of the prisoner, I had to take care of a wheelchair-bound cranky wealthy man. The film was both sad and funny, but had pleasing emotional appeal. The directors have said there is no plan for a sequel but were content that there was going to be an American remake (seemingly the validation of the success of a French film!).

After the success of Les Intouchables, the directors did waited some years for their next film. But here it is, Samba. And they have invited their star, Omar Sy to come back and team with Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The setting is Paris and the story is that of an illegal migrant, Samba, who came 10 years earlier from Senegal and has been able to survive, living with his uncle, working in a restaurant kitchen, taking on labouring jobs, hoping to become a chef. He has been very careful and has avoided arrest but is attacked in the street, fights back and is arrested. He is detained in the internment centre – difficult and confined, but far less enclosed and repressed than contemporary Australian and off-shore detention centres.

Charlotte Gainsbourg, one of France’s leading actresses, plays Alice, who has suffered a breakdown from her high-powered job and is assisting at a clearing centre for the detainees. She accompanies an earnest young woman and interviews Samba. Alice has been warned to keep a distance, not become involved, but Samba is pleasant in the discussions so that she actually gives him her number. It comes in handy, as we might expect, when he needs some further help.

Omar Sy is quite different from his character in Les Intouchables. He is a physically big man and can take care of himself when attacked, but has a rather gentle spirit, has been working the years in France and sending home money to his mother and upset when he is detained and can’t get work to earn the money. His uncle, a rather stoic old man, works in the kitchen, gives advice to his nephew but thinks it is time for him to return home.

Over the weeks, Samba and Alice cross paths, Alice confiding in Samba the difficulties she has experienced, gaining some confidence again, prepared to go to interviews for getting the job back. Samba has been working on building sites and odd jobs and becomes friendly with Wilson, a cheerful Brazilian worker who thinks that women are attracted to the exuberant Latin American temperament. He doesn’t really look Brazilian and has to confess that his real name is one Walid and that he is from Algeria. But he is so cheerful, that nothing stops him and he sets his eyes on Alice’s companion from the office.

The film slows down a little in the middle, especially when the main characters turn up at a dance for the staff of the detention interviews, some comedy with several of the interviewers, elderly women who have struggled with foreign languages, accents, yet still try to do their best for the detainees.

There is some drama towards the end when Samba encounters a friend that he made in the detention centre, promising to track down his fiancee, which he does but has a one night stand with her and he cannot face his friend. The police pursue, they hang onto a rail over the river but both fall in – but there is still hope, the audience realising what has happened in terms of coats, but Alice and Samba’s uncle do not. Ultimately, Samba makes a decision to do the right thing.

There is a great deal of warmth in the film, a most sympathetic portrait of an illegal worker in France and the continued edge in avoiding police and discovery. With the enormous flow of migrants and refugees, legal and illegal, throughout the world, it is quite important that audiences put faces on these migrants and discover and identify with their stories.

1. An entertaining film? Humane? Serious? Social issues? In France, in Africa?

2. The impact for audiences worldwide, especially for refugee issues?

3. Paris, the locations, familiar scenes, restaurants, kitchens, the detention centre, offices, homes, job sites, the river? The musical score?

4. The title, the tone of the name? Omar Sy, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tahar Rahim, the work of the directors?

5. Samba’s story, from Senegal, 10 years in Paris, his mother at home, illegal, staying with his uncle, working in the kitchen, wanting to be a chef, sending money to his mother, his mother’s pleas and demands? Avoiding the police, the issue of documents? His being caught, the detention centre and its effect? Meeting the man from Congo, the story of his fiancee? Meeting the social workers, the young woman, Alice?

6. The young woman, her verve, her studies, interviews, with the detainees, advice to keep a distance? Taking Alice? Alice’s breakdown, nervous, talking, the phone number, responding to Samba and his pleasantness? The later interviews? Wanting to talk to him, the building site, meeting Wilson, the discussions? Going to get forged documents, the cost?

7. The visits to the detention centre, the staff, the older women, the range of detainees, language issues? Wilson as translator? Setting his sights on the young social worker, her rejection, acceptance, going to the dance, the exuberance, the further relationship? His true story, not Brazilian, coming from Algeria?

8. Samba, going to find the fiancee, the discussions, the night with her, his shame, avoiding his friend, the phone call?

9. Alice, the character, reactions, helping Samba, shelter, the social, getting better, going to the interview for her job?

10. Samba, whether to return to Senegal or not, the advice of his uncle, the documents, meeting the friend from the detention centre, going to meet Alice, his not turning up? The truth, the fight? The clash, the police, running away, holding onto the railing, the two going into the water?

11. The change of coats, the false identity, the consequences, his wanting to leave, Alice seeking him out, staying, becoming a chef, the menus?

12. A look at contemporary social issues, illegals and refugees in France, the comparison with treatments in other countries?