A Screaming Man (2011)

I love this movie so much

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Admirable film.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A Screaming Man, directed by Mahamat Saleh Haroun, depicts the struggles of a Chadian man during the recent Civil War. Adam, commonly referred to as "Champ", is a Chadian father who works at a pool for the local hotel with his son, Abdel. Almost immediately into the movie, Champ is approached by the management of the hotel and asked if the pool tending is a one-man job. Eventually, his son takes over the job per the hotel management's directions, and Champ is forced to be a gatekeeper thus taking his friend's job. Later, Abdel is drafted into the army to fight for the Civil War; this lets Champ regain his job at the pool. Then, due to the problems from the war and the hysteria it created, Champ is the only worker who shows up to the hotel to work. Another plot twist occurs when a mysterious girl who we later find out is Abdel's girlfriend of one year, appears at Champ's house. While learning of his new daughter, Champ develops a plan to help steal his son from the army. Champ then executes his plan, and he steals Abdel from the frontlines and drives him back to the house. Eventually, Abdel dies from wounds and tells his father to float him down a river. Throughout the movie, silence during scenes is use to help further emotions and maybe even drive anticipation. This part of the movie makes the movie where slow and boring. I would not recommend this movie to those who are not accustomed to slow, un American movies. This movie really opened my eyes to the different varieties of movies out in the world as I have never watched a movie that utilizes silence so often.

"A Screaming Man" had some compelling scenes, but much of the movie was very slow to develop. I am aware that African movies have long silences during different times of their movies, but it seemed to be excessive at times. Some different, short scenes seemed very unnecessary with the lack of actual relevant talk about the true message and reason for the movie. For example, when they were eating dinner, the scene seemed to simply just drag on with long silences and uninteresting small talk. It was a little weird how "Champ" decided to send his son off to the war. Then, he wanted to go back and rescue his son later on in the movie. I, also, was not a huge fan of the ending. I found it weird that he found his son dead when driving home. After that, he laid with his son's dead body watching the water. Though it may have been symbolic, I was a little creeped out by the whole idea. There were also a lot of questions that went unanswered. The whole war got brushed under the rug when it appeared to be getting pretty serious. People were fleeing the country due to the big war, but nothing was mentioned about what happened.

The Screaming Man is a fascinating tale about the bond of a father and son. Everything is going well; the father loves his job working at the pool of a local hotel, and his son, Abdel, ends up joining him. The father, Adam/Champ, says that the pool is his life, and he seems to love everything about his job. Things begin to change as a Chinese company takes over the hotel, and Adam's friend, who works as the cook, gets fired. Adam is moved to the position of gate guard, and his son takes over the position of pool boy. After this, Adam is portrayed as very sad and brooding in many of the scenes. Unlike American films, there are a lot of silences. I am not accustomed to seeing this in movies or in general because in our culture, usually people talk a lot (sometimes too much). However, I think it is a good representation of life. We, as humans, are alone a lot and have a lot of chances to reflect and think about our choices and our beliefs. Abdel is drafted to fight in the civil war which we later find out is because Adam got him into in. I think he did this for selfish reasons but later regretted this decision. Parents are people, too, with needs and hopes and dreams and wants. Adam loved the pool so much that he was willing to sacrifice his son to get what he wanted, but then he realized the error of his ways.

"Be careful not to cross your arms over your chest, assuming the sterile attitude of a spectator, because life is not a spectacle, a sea of pain is not a proscenium, and a screaming man is not a dancing bear." (Extract from Aimé Césaire's poem Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, 1939Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's fourth feature tells the story of Adam, or "The Champ" (Youssouf Djaoro) as he is also known, a former swimming champion in his mid- fifties, who works as a hotel pool attendant; a job in which he takes immense pride. Adam's closest colleague is his son Abdel (Dioucounda Koma), a twenty year old who documents every day of his life with his camera. Father and son make a harmonious pair and their family is a happy one, despite an intensifying civil war and the plans to privatise the hotel where they work. That is until the day the hotel management's cutbacks hit the family and Abdel is made pool attendant in his father's place. The looming threats of armed rebels approaching the city offers an unfortunate opportunity for Adam to restore himself, or at least that is what he, whose identity is intrinsically tied to his job and his past achievements, thinks.A Screaming Man talks about loss of self, not as a consequence of happenings beyond our control, but of the choices we make when life throws us off guard. "Life continues", says David (Marius Yelolo), the hotel chef and Adam's close friend who is among the first to be affected by the down-sizings. Both men struggle to come to terms with the realisation that their passion and zest for life is of little value to anyone but themselves. The problem, David concludes, is that we put our destiny in God's hands – a God he still believes in but in whom he has lost faith – thus implying that there is room for human intervention regardless of the magnitude of the challenges we face. That it is in fact up to ourselves to decide what kind of person we want to be and how to express and live up to the decision once it has been made.Adam's wife (Hadje Fatime N'Goua) scolds both her husband for having changed when he meets danger with passivity, and the invisible neighbour who thinks nothing of asking for favours without ever offering anything in return. She knows that there is pride in cooking, in singing, and in caring and providing for one's family. In having a purpose, and in trying to be the best one can be. And she knows that inherent in pride is the sense of dignity that helps us to treat others and ourselves with respect. Just before we lose ourselves we lose the little things; the subtle detail, the unsaid and the almost unnoticed, like the acts of saying "thank you" after supper. Haroun evokes the ordinary, not horror or deprivation, which he merely illustrates by the absence of what used to be. The civil war, like the rationalising process at the hotel, is but a backdrop and a circumstance; not a defining factor.In his characteristic careful and understated manner Mahamat-Saleh Haroun shares the secret behind a decent life with an audience who has time for the mundane and the slow unfolding of seemingly undramatic events brimful with meaning. A secret spelled dignity and pride, be it that of a father, a professional, or a frightened man who has decided that his best years are behind him.Talented South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane once tweeted "Great art speaks to the essence of what it is to be a human being; not only material and physical aspirations but existential too." A perfect description of A Screaming Man; a brilliant work of art in its own right, and in the way the film relates to its characters' ability and need for full self-expression through cooking, singing, swimming or tending to a pool.This and other reviews available on the blog In The Words of Katarina (wordsofkatarina.blogspot.com)