A Screaming Man: A film that reflects a man's sorrow and pain

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane
Correspondent | Thursday May 10, 2012 00:00

This film, which was shown at MaP's AV centre on Tuesday, left many people heavy hearted as they had mixed interpretations. It is a 92 minutes movie directed by Mahamat Saleh Haroun. It is set in Chad during the country's civil war. At the time, the rebels wanted to take over the country and due to their immense power, the government pleaded 'war efforts' from the people of Chad, through either donating money or one family member to join the armed force. Adam Ousmane Dioucounda Hoka, a former swimming champion, played by Youssouf Djaoro, enjoyed a happy life and his joy was centered around his job, wife and son.

Even though his friends called him a 'poor man', who worked as a hotel pool attendant, he was a very caring man who loved his family very much. All this changed after the hotel was taken over by new Chinese owners who demoted him from the job that he loved and had worked at for 20 years, to a 'mere' security guard. At the time, Hoka, who also worked with his son Abdel Ousmane, played by Emile Abossolo M'ba. He became heartbroken after he was forced to give up his old job to his son. This made the old man upset and he became resentful towards the young Abdel.

The old man did not like his new job; a role he was appointed in after his friend, who held the job for many years, was fired. This chaos made his friends turn into enemies. With too much stress and anger, Hoka was further worried by the District Chief, who constantly harassed him for his contribution. This worsened the old man's stress daily as he was pressurised to contribute to the war to prove that he was not against the government, though he was penniless and had nothing much to offer. The once happy and warm family turned into an unbearably cold and sad person.Even the father-son relationship became so cold that the two stopped speaking to each other. Despite all her attempts to bring peace to the house, Miriam (Hoka's wife) ended up giving up on trying to reconcile the two men.

The old man started becoming cold towards his wife whom he loved. He was plunged into sleepless nights, as the District Chief gave him only three days to give submit his contribution. The District chief finally tricked Hoka into 'contributing' his 20 year old only son to the state soldiers.  He  claimed that he had also sent his 17 years son to war, because upon his return from the war he would be pointed to as the general.

Hoka, out of anger about the fact that his son had taken his most loved job then set him up and sent him to war. The day Abdel was taken by the soldiers, his father pretended to be ill and was too ashamed to talk to his son, who tried hard to engage him. Even though Abdel screamed for help from his father, he kept quiet. His wife spent many days crying for Abdel and this made him feel guilty.

A few days later, Abdel's pregnant girlfriend paid his parents a visit in order to enquire about his whereabouts. This worsened the old man's guilt, especially after hearing her sing a sad song to him. The song affected him so much that he ended up confessing to her.

When she cried, he did not want his wife to hear her, as he was ashamed that he was responsible for his son's abduction. As the war intensified, people started vacating their homes. Seeing that Hoka wanted to return to work when everyone else was fleeing the country, his wife pleaded with him to rescue them rather than return to work in such a tumultuous environment.

This seemingly stubborn man decided to defiantly go to the hotel and on his way there he meets many people fleeing with their families. Among these people is the District Chief, who is dressed like a woman and accompanied by his son. On realizing that he was cheated by this man, Hoka points him with a gun and threatens to kill him. Full of regrets, he hurries to the military base where he finds his son seriously injured.At midnight he sneaked him out in attempts to save him. As details of the long journey unfold, Abdel informs his father that he knew that he had betrayed him. He asks him to help him into the river for a swim, but soon the old man Hoka realises that his son is dead.  The film ends with the old man in a disheartening state, enveloped by sadness as he knows he was responsible for the death of his only child.  These are some of the unfortunate situations that pan out in countries that are war-infested; where people's rights no longer matter and young boys are bullied into becoming soldiers.