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Africa Arabia France Poverty Rape Revolution Torture

Daresalam begins with a lovely sunrise. Cut to a group of people pounding grain in a clearing. Shortly after the camera comes to rest on this group of farmers, they take a break and Djimi {Haikal Zakaria} and Koni {Abdoulaye Ahmat} wander off down the road, sit on a hillside and take turns shooting at birds with a slingshot. While they're sitting and shooting, several women walk past and the two men discuss them for a bit then follow along behind. Cut to a bit of moonlit sky through the trees. In Miriam and Yacoub's {Garba Issa Malloum} tent, they discuss this year's harvest and their son Djimi's need for new clothing.

At the market the following day, A military commander buys much of the family's grain but under pays considerably and comes close to accusing Djimi of being a rebel. Still, they'll have enough for Djimi's bubu. He'll have something to wear for important occasions, now that he's become a man, and they'll even be able to afford a bit of sugar and some fabrics for mom. Djimi asks his father what the commander meant by "rebels". and Yacoub replies with what I'm assuming is the African equivalent of "you're not old enough to know". In the Chieftain's {Moussa Atim} tent, Yacoub pays his taxes but doesn't have the money for his national loan payment; paying that much at once will leave him completely broke. The Chief agrees to this but warns Yacoub that there's a village meeting the next night and the commander has told him that all of the villagers must attend.

That night Djimi throws a small tantrum when he discovers that Koni has told a woman that Djimi likes her. Cut, a bit later, to Yacoub and Miriam's tent Their baby has suddenly taken ill and the potion given to them by the marabout, only seems to make him sicker. The next morning, Djimi and Miriam pack up an ox and head off to the dispensary to get the baby checked over. At the town meeting, one of the men predicts that the military has called this meeting to force them to pay their loans. When the soldiers arrive, the villagers find that to be true. The Chief is knocked to the ground by several soldiers and the rest of the men are ordered to produce their receipts for their loan payments. Koni, being a bit headstrong and filled with youthful exuberance, flattens the commander with a rock. Just because he's youthful and exuberant doesn't mean he's stupid; Koni doesn't stick around very long.

Cut to Miriam, Djimi and the ailing youngster on the road. Things aren't going well with the baby and the dispensary is still a day's journey away. Back at the village, the town is teeming with soldiers and none other than the Minister of the Interior himself has come to speak with the people personally. The minister isn't at all happy with the lack of tax payments, but has devised a simple solution to the problem. After asking the men that haven't paid their loans to step forward, he simply begins to shoot them one by one. The men assembled, sensibly, riot and, in the ensuing fracas, the minister is killed. Cut to Djimi and Miriam on the road where they have a minor run-in with some of the rebels. Basically, this scene explains a bit of what these guys are about. They don't harm Djimi or Miriam. At the dispensary, the doctor gives Miriam some medication.

Cut to a very nice shot of the sunset and the family's silhouettes as they walk across the horizon. This fades into a sunrise over distant hills and cuts to Djimi as he carries a dead child across a dry, grassy plain. They're met very shortly by a ragged looking Koni, who explains what's been happening in the village: most of the men have been arrested and much of the village has been burned. Koni helps them to bury the baby. This is where Koni and Djimi part company with Djimi's mother and go off to join the rebel forces and do battle. Cut to a strangely quiet and strangely effective montage of violence, rape, murder and torture then to the eventual indoctrination of Djimi and Koni into "FRAP", the revolutionary army. From there, it's off to parts unknown...

This is beautifully photographed and there's some exceptional scenery. These actors aren't professional and that's pretty obvious through some of this. On the other hand, the cinematography makes up for a lot of that and these people's sheer desire to give voice to this story makes up for a lot more. Ahmat seems to really mean it and his performance is pretty effective. Zakaria's performance improves considerably over the course of the film. At times, this shows a pretty remarkable insight and you are pretty much guaranteed not to have seen scenes or situations like some of the things this movie portrays. Daresalam is an entirely different sort of combat film. The movie has a very nice soundtrack to it that could have been used just a little more. It does seem a bit out of place in places but I guess screaming blues guitar might be appropriate to a fire fight. It certainly works with the structure of this film.