A Screaming Man (2010)
"Un homme qui crie" (original title)

Present-day Chad. Adam, fifty-five, a former swimming champion, is pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up ... See full summary »

Director:

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Writer:

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (screenplay)

Stars:

Youssouf Djaoro, Dioucounda Koma, Emile Abossolo M'bo

8 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Youssouf Djaoro	...	Adam Ousmane 'Champion'
Dioucounda Koma	...	Abdel Ousmane (as Diouc Koma)
Emile Abossolo M'bo	...	Le chef de quartier
Hadje Fatime N'Goua	...	Mariam
Marius Yelolo	...	David
Djénéba Koné	...	Djénéba Koné
Heling Li	...	Mme Wang
Rémadji Adèle Ngaradoumbaye	...	Souad
John Mbaiedoum	...	Etienne
Sylvain Mbaikoubou	...	Le nouveau cuisinier
Abdou Boukar	...	Le maître d'hôtel
Fatimé Nguenabaye	...	La voisine
Gérard Ganda Mayoumbila	...	Le sous-officier
Mahamat Choukou	...	Soldat barrage 1
Tourgoudi Oumar	...	Soldat barrage 2

Storyline

Present-day Chad. Adam, fifty-five, a former swimming champion, is pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel gets taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Terribly resentful, he feels socially humiliated. The country is in the throes of a civil war. Rebel forces are attacking the government. The authorities demand that the population contribute to the "war effort", giving money or volunteers old enough to fight off the assailants. The District Chief constantly harasses Adam for his contribution. But Adam is penniless; he only has his son....

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | war effort | pool attendant | chad | civil war | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

France Belgium Chad

Language:

French Arabic

Release Date:

13 April 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Screaming Man

Filming Locations:

Abéché, Chad

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$2,421 (USA) (15 April 2011)

Gross:

$9,862 (USA) (6 May 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pili Films, Entre Chien et Loup, Goi-Goi Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

A few breaths of life into this film could have made it so much better!

"A Screaming Man" ("Un homme qui crie") was a frustrating film to watch. There was so much potential but the film failed to exploit this throughout. And, while I would recommend you see it, it's the sort of film that most folks simply wouldn't sit through and SHOULD have been better.

The movie is set in Chad. It appears to be sometime around the present day, though this is uncertain--as civil wars have been going on in the country off and on for decades and WHICH one this is isn't explained. This isn't really a problem--just go with it. The story centers around an older man nicknamed 'Champ', as he was a Central African swimming champion back in the 1960s. His job since has been to work as a pool attendant at a resort in his country. While to Westerners this might seem like a dull or unimportant job, it was everything to Champ--stability and a sense of importance. And when his boss began firing and rearranging things at the resort, Champ is panicked when they decide to have Champ's son take over the job alone (they'd both been working together) and move Champ to the job of gate keeper. What Champ does to cope with this is fascinating and makes for an interesting twist, but unfortunately though MOST of the film, Champ just keeps silent and broods. There is almost no visible emotion at all--just brooding and silence. And, after a while, the film gets VERY difficult to continue watching because of this. However, if you've invested this much time in the film, keep watching--the ending, though very sad, does tie everything together well. My overall verdict is that with more energy and life, this could have been an amazingly good film. Now, however, it's interesting to very patient folks only--which is sad, as we never get to see films about Chad and its people.