Review of A Screaming Man (2010) by Rob L — 25 Jan 2012

An elegiac piece that entrances due to its unfamiliar setting - wartorn Chad; yet away from the front line in the curiously cosseted environs of a posh hotel swimming pool under Chinese ownership. At heart, it's a movie about a relationship between father and son and one that goes seriously off the rails due to pride and jealousy - needless to say, the consequences in Ndjamena are a little more problematic than they would be in Leighton Buzzard.

Chad has always been one of Africa's most troubled countries and yet there are signs here that normality is being approached in the early scenes at least - it's no Somalia. Yet, many familiar themes emerge - the hotel reminded me of those I stayed in in India on my most recent visit - an utterly artificial environment that swaps one form of colonialism for another.