Waiting for Happiness
(Heremakono) German title: Warten auf das Glück / Reise ins Glück
Francaise title: En attendant le bonheur
Original title: Heremakono
Alternative titles:
Heremakono
Episodic film – Mauritania, France
Production year: 2001
Movie length: 90 minutes
Movie description:
Abdallah is the transitory central figure inhabiting the village of Nouadhibou on the coast of Mauritania. Abdallah is unable to speak the local language of Hassanya, dresses in Western clothes and views the routine of village life through the stone frame of his bedroom window. While he uses few words to explain his alienation and impending departure, the curious coupling of the young orphan boy Khatra and the grandfatherly electrician Maata provide us with enough insight to imagine the life from which Abdallah seeks to escape.
In Waiting for Happiness, words are replaced by shades of colour and contrasting light and simple actions supplant drawn-out monologues. Overly dramatic flights to far off lands are simply implied by the resting vessels at sea; a shadowy reminder of the world beyond. The motivations of Sissako’s characters are never needlessly explained but gently coaxed from a cast of non-professional actors.
Strangely, for a film with so little dialogue, Waiting for Happiness appears closer to the world of literary works than cinema. It is a poetic, timeless gem and proof of Sissako’s genius in the art of pure cinema.
Boy Actors
This film was registered by Franz-Josef into the movie list!
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