Themes: Intersecting Lives, Culture Clash, Immigrant Life
Main Cast: Khatra Ould Abdel Kader, Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid, Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed, Nana Diakite, Fatimetou Mint Ahmeda
Release Year: 2002
Country: MR/FR
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
Waiting for Happiness depicts life in the seaside town of Nouadhibou in Mauritania. A young man, Abdallah (Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed), visits the town, where his mother lives, before emigrating. He feels disconnected from his people because he dresses in Western clothes, and he does not speak the language, but he connects in small ways during his stay. A taciturn elderly electrician, Maata (Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid), teaches an energetic boy, Khatra (Khatra Ould Abdel Kader), his trade, while a traditional singer (Nema Mint Choueikh) teaches a talented young girl hers. One would-be émigré washes up on the beach amid massive ships long ago run aground. Abdallah's mother vainly urges him to follow traditional customs while he's in town. Nana (Nana Diakite) tells Abdallah a sad tale about tracking down the father of her lost child in Europe. The film jumps forward in time at several points, and eventually both Khatra and Abdallah try to leave the village. Filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako's follow-up to his acclaimed Life on Earth, Waiting for Happiness won the FIPRESCI Award for Un Certain Regard at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival "for its exquisite poetic depiction of the emotional and humorous complications that can arise in the midst of a simple life." ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
Abderrahmane Sissako's Waiting for Happiness is a profoundly melancholy and visually lovely film that captures the poky pace and transitory nature of life in Nouadhibou, a port city in Mauritania. The town is bordered by the ocean, with its huge, long-abandoned grounded ships on one side, and the desert, with its colossal and foreboding dunes, on the other. People from many parts of the world pass through the town on their way to somewhere else, deeply affecting the lives of the long-time residents. There are moments of humor in the film, in the relationship between an old electrician and his spirited young charge, and in the culture clash encountered by a young student on his way out of the country. There are also quiet moments of sadness that seemingly engulf the entire town. While the electrician struggles to bring a spark of modernity to the remote parts of the village, a young girl learns gorgeous traditional songs from her mother. Sissako's slender narrative takes its time reaching its ambiguous conclusion. The essential humanity of the characters shines through, and the passion of the filmmaker rewards the patient viewer. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Cast
Khatra Ould Abdel Kader - Khatra
Maata Ould Mohamed Abeid - Maata
Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed - Abdallah
Nana Diakite - Nana
Fatimetou Mint Ahmeda
Makanfing Dabo; Nema Mint Choueikh
Credit
Joseph Kpobly - Art Director, Laurent Cavero - Art Director, Abderrahmane Sissako - Director, Nadia Ben Rachid - Editor, Guillaume de Seille - Executive Producer, Oumou Sangaré - Composer (Music Score), Jacques Besse - Cinematographer, Antoine Ouvrier - Sound/Sound Designer, Alioune Mbow - Sound/Sound Designer, Laurent Dreyer - Sound/Sound Designer, Abderrahmane Sissako - Screenwriter
