Waiting for Happinessby Abdurrahman Sissako - Movie Review Example

Waiting for Happiness is an astonishing movie by Abdurrahman Sissako. It is the recollection of youth, a rural portrait, and a satirical reflection of globalization at the same time. Abderrakhman Sissako was born in Mauritania and the most of their childhood he spent in Mali before coming to Europe. His own story is told by him in the movie Waiting for Happiness. In the new full-length movie, the director again transfers the action to the desert where he spent his childhood: the movie was made in the east of Mauritania, in Valat, near the border with Mali, and under the supervision of the army.

Inhabitants of the coastal small village of Nuadkhibu live in expectation of a bright future. Before going to Europe, 17-year-old Abdalla visits his mother who lives in this settlement. The guy doesn't speak the local language and seems a stranger to locals. He also doesn't like the rural way’s archaism. However, having gotten acquainted with people closer, Abdalla starts feeling the call of blood. Such description can create an impression that the plot is romantic, but if to watch the whole movie, it becomes clear that the movie depicts real events which happen when strangers come to a country and try to impose their rules.

The inhabitants of the village suffer from religious and political extremism. Religious political extremism is a religiously motivated activity directed at violent change of a political system or violent seizure of power, violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state, on initiation of religious strife and hatred for this purpose. As well as ethno-nationalist extremism, religious political extremism represents a kind of political extremism. It is distinguished by certain characteristic features, which make it different from other types of extremism. Religious and political extremism rejects the possibility of negotiations, compromise, and consensus solutions to socio-political problems. Supporters of religious and political extremism are distinguished by extreme intolerance of everybody who does not share their political views, including brothers in faith. For them, there are no rules in the game of politics, no borders.

The Malian city of Timbuktu appears in religious extremists’ occupation, and the followers of jihad commit crimes here every day. More than half of the city is occupied by newcomers, and women suffer more than men. Through the story of Kidan, Fatima, their daughter Toya and little herder Issan, Abdurrahman Sissako expresses a protest against the hard atmosphere of terror established in this region of Sahara at almost absolute indifference of the world mass media. The rest of the world does not care about the suffering of the people in the region and does not want to assist anyhow. The director shows the silent fight of unaided men and women in this movie made in the desert Sahel, which is lovely to his heart. In his case, the methods of art cinema serve as the reflection of reality, cruel reality, which many people in the world even do not know about.