Un homme qui crie

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

France, Belgium, Chad 2010, 92 min.


Spoken language: French, Arabic

Subtitles: Dutch

Festival year: 2011

Former African swimming champion Adam works as a bath attendant for a sheikh in Chad. After being forced to give up his job to his son, which feels like a humiliation to him, he is pressurized to contribute to the war effort. His son is all he has to offer… Subdued tragedy of fate that won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.


When the hotel he works for in N’Djamena falls into the hands of Chinese investors, Adam is demoted to porter. His superiors argue that his son Abdel ‘appeals more to the hotel guests’ as a bath attendant. Adam is full of resentment about this humiliation.
Meanwhile, the spectre of civil war looms over the country, as rebels turn against the government. The latter asks its citizens to make a ‘contribution to the war', in the form of money or manpower. Under pressure from the local authorities, Adam sends Abdel off to war, but soon his conscience gets in the way.

In Un homme qui crie, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, who gained notoriety for his previous film Daratt, denounces corruption and the expediency of African leaders. The Chad director sees the rivalry between the father and his son as a metaphor for the African continent, where the future of next generations is being mortgaged. 




Dutch distribution:





World sales:

Pyramide International