Un homme qui crie (2010) Online

By far my favourite film I've seen so far this year, A Screaming Man is an extremely captivating and thought provoking film that doesn't have to try too hard to get its ideas across. I think it says a lot without having to say so much, and in that simplicity, the viewer can find a whole world of complexities lying under the characters and their tale. I don't know why but this film just really spoke to me on a lot of levels, as a employee, as a son, and as a man. I'm really glad to have decided to check it out as I had originally thought this film would be unrealisable to me and possibly boring, but it's quite the opposite, It's a film I'm going to be thinking about for quite some time and engaged me thoughtfully the entire way through.

Meet Adam, he's is fifty-five years old and has spent thirty of those as the pool manager at the nearby hotel in an unknown village in the country of Chad. Adam is content with his life as it keeps him considerably happy and even allows for his son to have a job as his assistant. But all of that changes when the hotel changes hands to new owners, unfortunately they do not see the worth in this long time employee and former swimming champion. Complacency gets the best of Adam when he is informed he no longer the pool assistant, and instead manning the front gate of the hotel. This shift to a job he does not like is further impacted by jealousy as he watches his son take over the position he never wished to give up. What is more is that Adam's village is become a more hostile place by the day, as warring rebels seem to draw closer to home. It is here that Adam makes a regretful choice with the leader of the resistance movement, leading to the heartbreak for himself and his family. Can Adam learn to accept his fate and make better the things he did to try and divert it, or will he be lost in the growing turmoil of war and suffering that will leave him A Screaming Man?

Wow, I did not expect this movie to be this way. I actually thought this film would be slightly jarring given the title, but no real screaming or profuse anger exists here; the screaming is done within the mind. And what a mind to try and unravel, Adam is easily one of the years best characters and performances. It's certainly a quiet performance, but it says so much without having to, I really enjoyed that about the character, he wasn't entrenched in some well said dramatic dialogue, instead it's felt and experienced along with the character. Youssouf Djaoro is ridiculously on point with the role, capturing all the confliction and anger of Adam in a single glance, I really felt for and rallied behind this person from the start; easily the best performance I've seen this year, just so perfectly done. The story itself is surprising and the emotions presented within feel really honest. The film also allows for brilliant moments of humour and introspection to go along with its more serious events, and the world around Adam is smartly realized. The pacing of the film is really solid, and the direction is flat out brilliant, the story wouldn't of worked without director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun eye for nuance and simplistic effectiveness. I found parts of the film quite intense though there is little action in the film, the title of the film is apt in that way, no one screams, but the strength of the story doesn't require them too, it is written all over their faces with brilliant ability. I only really take issue with the ambiguous ending which left me confused at the films final events, I suppose it's open to interpretation this way, but I think it wasn't really necessary; perhaps the director felt without it the film would seem cliché, but I found everything up to that point brutally original and eye opening. Overall I just really loved the story, and a better film could not be made from it, this is a very close call with cinematic perfection in my eyes and one that will most likely to remain at the top of my list come years end, quite happy to have been afforded the opportunity to travel the dusty roads and narrow alleys with this character. If I can track down a copy to buy, I most certainly will by it without hesitation.

So I truly do recommend this film as a great example of effective filmmaking. I didn't know what I was going to get with this one, but the results we're overwhelming in a good way. If you get a chance to see this film, do not pass it up, as far as dramatic films go for the year, this is among the best you'll find. Unfortunate that it's joint sponsorship will make it ineligible for consideration in the AMPAS foreign film category, perhaps a group such as the Hollywood foreign press (Golden Globes) who define the category as foreign Language will show it some love. Either way, A Screaming Man is an extremely well played meditation on what it is like to have your world flipped upside down in a heartbeat, and how one makes amends with the unpredictability of life. Highly Recommended.

I saw this on Film 4, late. The premise is a little different and my policy to watch every World Cinema offering that is aired for free had me quite keen for this French funded (& spoken) film from Chad.

It's not every day that the star character is a 60 year old former national swimming champion, who's now more than happy - and resolutely proud - of his job as pool attendant at a posh, luxury hotel. But, as civil war slowly envelopes both the country and the film, it is Adam's (aka "The Champ") son, Abdel, who is causing turmoil for his father.

As it's noticed by the foreign hotel owner/managers that Adam is taking things more leisurely these days and he gets shuffled over to gate duty, dolled up in a starched uniform, his son gets his old job. This naturally causes ripples and resentment that go beyond the Hotel.

This beautifully shot movie from director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun is more observational than it is about making statements and stuffing opinion down on us. The story and the characters unfold naturally; we can take it at the steady pace that it is set and enjoy it as such. Or, you can really dig yourself deep within the different culture and attitudes to status, relationships, Imperialism and War and soak it all up. I hope to do the latter when I watch it again via the recording I made of it.

However, it is the final 15, 20 minutes that turn this drama into something much more profound and moving. I promise you, you will change your seated position, clear your throat and maybe inwardly murmur something to yourself as you sense a change of the overall stature is increased.

I'm not saying that A Screaming Man has to be seen by everybody or that it is the best Foreign language film of that year. It's different enough to get noticed, is topical without trying TOO hard and we are rewarded with a final chapter that is undoubtedly emotionally very moving. That's not a bad combination....

"A Screaming Man" ("Un homme qui crie") was a frustrating film to watch. There was so much potential but the film failed to exploit this throughout. And, while I would recommend you see it, it's the sort of film that most folks simply wouldn't sit through and SHOULD have been better.

The movie is set in Chad. It appears to be sometime around the present day, though this is uncertain--as civil wars have been going on in the country off and on for decades and WHICH one this is isn't explained. This isn't really a problem--just go with it. The story centers around an older man nicknamed 'Champ', as he was a Central African swimming champion back in the 1960s. His job since has been to work as a pool attendant at a resort in his country. While to Westerners this might seem like a dull or unimportant job, it was everything to Champ--stability and a sense of importance. And when his boss began firing and rearranging things at the resort, Champ is panicked when they decide to have Champ's son take over the job alone (they'd both been working together) and move Champ to the job of gate keeper. What Champ does to cope with this is fascinating and makes for an interesting twist, but unfortunately though MOST of the film, Champ just keeps silent and broods. There is almost no visible emotion at all--just brooding and silence. And, after a while, the film gets VERY difficult to continue watching because of this. However, if you've invested this much time in the film, keep watching--the ending, though very sad, does tie everything together well. My overall verdict is that with more energy and life, this could have been an amazingly good film. Now, however, it's interesting to very patient folks only--which is sad, as we never get to see films about Chad and its people.

"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, 1939

Chadian 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)

"A Screaming Man," directed by Mahamat Saleh Haroun, was a very slow-paced, but somewhat moving film. The silences and actions of the characters led the viewers to conceive a message worth a million words. I thought this was a very interesting way to film, and it led me and my classmates to interpret our own messages out of the film's dialogue through the actors' eye contact. "A Screaming Man," is a puzzling film that will lead you to rethink how people around the world interact with one another -- it definitely persuaded me to find a different global perspective. This film persuades the viewers to further think about the future and well-being of our world as it is today.

The Chadian film Un homme qui crie was shown in the U.S. with the translated title A Screaming Man (2010). The movie was written and directed by the Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Youssouf Djaoro portrays Adam Ousmane, who is called "Champion." When he was younger, he won the Central African swimming championship, and the name has stayed with him. His son, Abdel Ousmane (Diouc Koma) works with his father in a high-end hotel in the nation's capital. Both of them work at the hotel's swimming pool, where Adam is respected, and Abdel is adored by everyone because of his good looks and his easy-going manner.

This movie reminded me of a Greek tragedy. That's not because the father and son come into unwilling conflict, but because Adam has to make a choice between two terrible options. How can you do the right thing if either path you choose is the wrong path? When there are two compelling demands, and each precludes the other, what happens to the protagonist?

Adam is caught in just such a situation. There's a war going on, and the local political boss demands payment to the government. Adam, although not poor, doesn't have the money to make the payment. What are his options?

This movie is worth seeing on its own merits. That fact that it's from Chad makes it even more important to view it. If I counted correctly, less than a dozen films have been made in Chad. The superb Dryden Theatre at The Eastman Museum in Rochester is showing five of these movies as part of a Mahamat-Saleh Haroun retrospective. My compliments to the Dryden for giving us the opportunity to see these movies on the large screen. (Some of Haroun's films are available for the small screen, but some are not.) Seeing these movies on the large screen was truly a privilege. Un homme qui crie is a great film--see it if you can.

P.S. Even with the resources of the Eastman Museum, a print of Haroun's "Bye Bye Africa" couldn't be located. If you know someone who has a print of that movie, please notify the Dryden Theatre.

A Screaming Man in my opinion was not a very great movie. I did not enjoy this much quite as much as the other ones because it was very slow. I understand that slow movies still have a meaning and a story behind them but it did not seem so as much in this film. It was not that clear to me how Abdel manages to take his dads job. How did it happen? What did he do? Because I know they called Adam into to office to ask if two worker were to many people for the pool and he said no it was a good amount of people. So I am assuming Abdel was like I think two people is one to many. The movies was full of selfish characters to me. Abdel took his dads job and his dad gets sent to work at the gate. Adam is not a fan of this and then gets him drafted into the civil war. This means that Adam gets his job back. He basically murdered his own son by sending him into the civil war. You can tell the movie is not an American movie y how slow it is. American movies move at a much faster rate. While I was watching the film I noticed globalization, the women from China was the head of a hotel in Chad. If I was to put myself in the shoes of one of the characters. I would have made it so Abdel as told the women from China that they needed two workers by the pool because that would have solved many conflicts throughout the film. If I could have changed the ending I would have made it so that the son does not die and that the family gets back together and Abdel's son is born.

This movie is a rather slow movie that contains a lot of, what seems like, never-ending silences. It starts off in the pool and the entire movie, and the decisions made by the characters really revolve around a pool. The father loves working at the pool and claims it is his life. But at one point his son ends up replacing him as the life guard and he is moved to the gate guard. This triggers his silence and eventually, the son is taken by the army and is drafted and the father does nothing to try and stop it. I believe this was out of greed and selfishness. The father let his son be taken so that he would get his life guard job back and to me that is ridiculous. I think this because later in the movie he regrets his decision and claims that he was wrong. He goes to save his son but he is greatly injured and on the ride back he dies. I didn't like this movie very much but the messages that are given are strong ones.

"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.

Adam is a swimming champion, who has spent his entire life at or in the pool. His son, Abdel, also loves to swim, seeing as his father raised him to be a swimmer. When the Chinese take control of the luxury hotel that Adam works at, the manager decides to make Abdel the the pool attendant instead of Adam. This crushes Adam, because he lives for the pool. During the time of this happening, a civil war is going on in Chad. The army comes to draft, and they choose to draft Abdel. Adam does nothing about it, because he wants his job of pool attendant back. When his one and only son is sent away to the war, Adam is eaten away by his guilt. Abdel later goes to the army camp to save his son, but Abdel is already on the brink of death. The director says that it was God's will to not save Abdel, because Adam did not try to save Abdel. Overall, this movie uses Adam's guilt to show that he regretted the decisions that he made as a father.

A Screaming Man takes place in Chad, during a period of civil unrest among the population. The story focuses around the main character of Champ, an accomplished former swimmer. He makes his living working as a pool attendant for a hotel. His son then becomes drafted into the army after he refuses to pay to keep him out anymore. The story then follows as this man with the guilty conscience goes back to save his son from life as a soldier. Unfortunately, he dies of his wounds. I loved the directing for this movie. I thought it was phenomenal and completely different from American movies. There was a lot less fast paced action and it felt more like a real life situation than a movie. I also thought the title was a nice touch even though the man never screams. It felt more like he was internally dying.

A Screaming man is a very interesting film, and is very different than most films people are used to watching, because of the slow pace. This film was very slow paced, but I think it was made that way in order to show more drastic emotions that the characters felt, and it gets you thinking how they will react without the actors actually showing it. I would recommend watching this film if you like to see something different. Many people are not used to seeing slow paced films, but trying something new is always compelling. In the film it showed the bond between a father and a son, but many problems started occurring between them. Adam the father of Abdel loved working at the pool, it wasn't just his occupation, but it was a hobby that he liked doing, and once his son took over his place, he was no longer working by the pool, but was sent over to work by the gates. Abdel gets sent to the army, and Adam/Champ finds him severely injured. The contradictions in this film is if his father Adam sent him to the army for sacrifice, or if he did that for selfish reasons to get his pool job back. By watching this film you get to ponder on why Adam acted the way he did. I would give this film a 4/5 stars, because the slow pace did not really effect me, and I liked how the film was different than most that I have seen.

For starters, this is a very interesting film in my opinion. It has many different elements to it that are so different from all of the American films that people see today. One thing I noticed that this film had a lot of is silence. Other films we've seen like Ixcanul were very quietus well. There were maybe 40 lines of dialogue total in the entire film. Another thing I noticed that was very interesting was that there were very little characters. There were maybe around 6 actors that actually contributed to the main plot. This was also similar to Ixcanul, as there were 4 main characters, the mom, the daughter, the dad, and the daughter's husband. Something that really estranged me in the film was when Abdel's girlfriend came to his house. His parents didn't even know he had a girlfriend by the looks of it, and then proceed to take her in as their daughter. I just don't understand why they did that. Doesn't she have parents too? Some thing I liked about the film were its simplicity and some of the views of what its like in Africa as well.

A Screaming Man was a very slow movie that took a very long time to develop, so I was left waiting for things to happen which I was not a fan of. It was one of the most quiet films I've ever seen, and I've been told that that was showing the Chadian culture, where silence between people is not awkward. When Adam was sitting around the pool he seemed to really enjoy taking in the things that were taking place in the area. As soon as Adam lost his job working at the pool and was moved to the gatekeeper position, his life started spiraling out of control. I thought it was the wrong move when he sent his son Abdel, to the front lines of the war. He did that just to get his job back from his son! This to me just seems morally wrong and his son should have been extremely angry when he saw Adam again. It was sad when Abdel died because he did not deserve to fall for his dads decisions. And I'm not sure how Adam will be able to go on with his life after getting his son killed and being so selfish.

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.

Although this movie was fairly slow-paced, I did not mind it because it really made the movie that much more personal. I don't think that we realize how much time alone as humans we actually have, and how much silence we actually have in our lives, and this movie was basically a reflection of that. It seemed slow because we are used to seeing fast- paced American movies that are made to keep your attention. During this movie, I was not entertained the entire time, but that is okay, because we are not entertained in everyday life all the time. I felt bad for Adam because he was so sad, and I could tell he felt really bad for sending Abdel into the military. Although I do not agree with his choice to do that, I can understand why he did it, since he was in a bad state of mind, and also very poor. Sometimes people make choices in the moment for their own benefit, that they do not know will turn out badly, which is what I think Adam did, but he didn't mean to make things worse. I didn't like, however, when Abdel's girlfriend was crying on the bed and he covered her mouth, muting her screams. At first, I thought he was trying to kill her or hurt her in some way, which made me uncomfortable. I did like the scene when he put Abdel's body into the water, and it faded out. I thought that was a really pretty and peaceful way to end such a thoughtful movie.

A Screaming Man is a very slow paced movie, but I feel it is necessary to get the point across of all the emotion. I had trouble keeping up with the slow pace as I am used to movies that have something going on every five seconds. The movie starts off with Adam, who is the father of Abdel, and he works at the pool with his son. The hotel they work out is beginning to fire the older workers that do not do as much for the hotel, and Adam fears that he will lose his job at the pool. After his interview with the lady in charge of the hotel, he is confident that his place will remain the same at the pool. His son Abdel also speaks to the manager and becomes distant for the rest of the day to Adam, as Abdel soon replaces his father and becomes solely responsible for the pool. Adam is moved to the front gate. During all of this there is a war going on between the army and the rebels. Everyone is being forced to help the army either by money or giving up a son. Due to Adam's anger about losing his position at the pool, he offers his son up to the army. His son is taken and eventually Adam is torn apart as he realizes that Abdel has a girlfriend who is pregnant and that he tore apart the family. He goes to retrieve Abdel, but he is badly injured and eventually dies as they arrive to a nearby river. To me the ending means Abdel was killed by what Adam loves most, which is swimming, and now to pay for it he loses his son. I would recommend seeing this movie, Even though I just gave most of it away.

In A Screaming Man a father and his son share a close bond. The father loves the pool. He was a champion in 1965 and his son and him share a job as the pool attendant. The father's life gets turned upside down when the hotel decides to cut his job and make him man the front gates. He hates his new job and has jealousy towards his son, who got to keep the pool job. I believe the father hates losing his pool job so much that he gives his son to the army. I thin he did this as an attempt to get his job back. What the father didn't know was that his son was expecting a child. As soon as he hears this he becomes very upset. I think the movie is titled A Screaming Man because the father is screaming on the inside when he finds that out.

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.

This is the last of Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's feature films that I have watched; not with intent to view this director's filmography but because I have a strong interest in African cinema and his films have intrigued me. This is the most satisfying of his four films. It is nearly perfect.

Every detail of the protagonist's life - Adam - stands for Chad's struggles: Tension between the new age of technology and the older perspectives that are seen as unnecessary to a brave new world that includes colonisation by stealth from China in the form of business investments. From factional fighting that would destroy the country and its young men while making refugees of the rest of the population. To questions about the wisdom of the elders and faith in God. It is not just Adam who screams but Chad. I will not elaborate on the story because other reviewers have fulfilled that role. The story is only one element of the plot as there is the political subtext as well as personal suffering that the director serves hence the film's epilogue.

Youssouf Djaoro is the tall, charismatic actor who plays Adam in all his complexities. His is a fine and nuanced performance. The decisive moment in the film where father betrays son was artful as the camera moves in slowly towards Djaoro's inscrutable face. It is a profound betrayal of much that Adam and so Chad, were invested in. It is terribly sad as is the consequences of the betrayal; again delivered in an acutely poignant manner.

The film is slow and still. It requires attention to the little that is said, to how things are portrayed and to what is unspoken and unexplained. It features the young actress and chanteuse Djénéba Koné, who, I have just discovered, is missing and presumed dead having disappeared in Mali in 2011. Discovering this after seeing the film has deepened my sorrow and is a cruel, if not poetic, footnote to the film.