London River
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | London River |
| Country of production | Great Britain , France , Algeria |
| original language | English , French , Arabic |
| Publishing year | 2009 |
| length | 87 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rachid Bouchareb |
| script | Rachid Bouchareb Zoé Galeron Olivier Lorelle |
| production | Rachid Bouchareb Jean Bréhat |
| music | Armand Amar |
| camera | Jérôme Alméras |
| cut | Yannick Kergoat |
| occupation | |
| |
London River is a British-French-Algerian feature film from 2009. The film had its world premiere on February 10, 2009 as part of the competition at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival .
action
Mrs. Sommers lives alone on her farm on the island of Guernsey . Her husband died as a soldier during the Falklands War and her daughter is a student in London . On July 7, 2005, she learned of the terrorist attacks in London through the television news . Worried about her daughter, she tries to reach her on her cell phone. However, it does not decrease. During the course of the day, Mrs. Sommers tries a few more times, each time in vain. Then she makes her way to London to personally convince herself of the well-being of her daughter.
In France , old Ousmane receives news from his family in Africa . His son, whom he has not seen since he was six, did not contact the family after the terrorist attacks. That's why Ousmane sets off to London to look for the son.
In London, Ousmane and Mrs. Sommers meet in search of their children. It turns out that the children lived in an apartment together and are a couple. The Muslim Ousmane and the Christian Mrs. Sommers are only slowly getting closer. The search for the children remains unsuccessful for the time being and the suspicion that son and daughter may be involved in the attacks as terrorists is nourished. Mrs. Sommers' daughter was taking an Arabic class. Hope is born when they learn that the children have planned a vacation in Paris . The departure was supposed to take place on the day of the terrorist attacks, but much later than the bombs detonated in the subway and buses. Ousmane and Mrs. Sommers then spend a happy day together. A day later the police report to them. They receive the news that their children were actually in one of the buses and were killed. Ousmane informs his family about the death of their son by telephone and returns to France. Mrs. Sommers returns to her farm. The hard work life goes on.
Reviews
“London River” is a clever, sad, very moral film, but it never imposes its morals: neither on the cinema goers nor on the characters who try to find each other here. It is wonderful how tenderly Rachid Bouchareb is able to draw her mother: He shows her prejudices precisely, sometimes comedically, the narrow-mindedness that she brings from her secluded, culturally homogeneous island world to multicultural London. "
“Two people who couldn't be more different, separated by race, origin, social class and religion, who learn to overcome the boundaries between themselves through a terrible experience - at first glance that would have been terribly schoolmasterly, educationally valuable, but also film can become quite anemic. Rachid Bouchareb's London River is not all of this, but a heart-touching film full of small gestures and a few small laughs, which does not trumpet its message out loud and instead allows a wonderfully unequal couple a lot of space, also and especially in mutual pain to move towards each other. "
Awards
Sotigui Kouyaté received the Actor Award (Silver Bear) at the Berlinale 2009 for his interpretation of Ousmane .
Web links
- London River in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Awards of the Berlinale 2009 , accessed on April 29, 2017.