A Screaming Man

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's 2010 film is set in Chad. Adam is a pool attendant at a hotel; a former swimming champion, the job has become his identity. When the hotel passes to new owners the staff is cut back and Adam is replaced by his own son Abdel. A civil war is under way in the same period, and the local authorities demand a soldier or money from every family. Adam has no money. All the weight of the film lies where those two facts meet: the only asset he holds is his son. Haroun never shows the war; radio bulletins, sounds from a distance and checkpoints are enough. The film won the Jury Prize at Cannes and was the first film from Chad in the main competition. Who it's for: those who like African cinema and father-and-son narratives. Who it's not for: viewers expecting action or explicit political statement; the film shows the war entirely indirectly.