The Heart's Cry

There's a huge gap between the village where the inhabitants gather around the mailman who calls them one by one when he's got a letter for them; it's a lucky day for Saffi and her son Moctar: her husband sends for them and the way to france is wide open ;after five years of sacrifices ,he now owns a garage and is part of the well-assimilated populations ;on the other hand the French couple ,Paulo (Richard Bohringer) and Deborah,(Clementine Célarié ) looks like dropouts ,particularly the man who makes friends with the young Moctar .

In spite of good intentions, the vision of the director may seem naive , nay idealistic : the problems of integration into a new world,a new climate and a new culture are represented by Moctar's hallucinations: a threatening hyena who prowls around him : this simplistic symbolism is not very convincing ;neither is the way Paulo "cures" him .The death of the granddaddy ,a wise man but also a chain smoker ,is predictable ,and is supposed to clinch the boy's fear of this new world .

Forget the social concers;on the plus side , Paulo and Moctar's friendship is endearing;it's arguably because she hasn't got a child on her own that his wife does not approve of her man's affection for this intruder.