VIFF 2017: A Season in France crackles with the tension caused by forced migration

(France)

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      France-based Chadian director Mahamat Saleh Haroun's film opens innocently enough with a widowed father from the Central African Republic, Abbas Mahadjir (Lumumba's Eriq Ebouaney), lovingly looking after his children in a middle-class Paris apartment. But not everything is right: the former academic has visions of his wife, who was murdered in a bloody civil war at home. The two kids are mourning her loss. And he's unsure if they'll receive the necessary papers to remain in France.

      Abbas and his equally bookish brother Etienne (Bibi Tanga), who lives elsewhere in the city, get by with menial work, but the tension ratchets up as a result of Abbas's uncertain immigration and housing status. He befriends a Polish immigrant to France, played by Sandrine Bonnaire, who helps him cope with the immense pressure, and their scenes with the children resonate with love and humour, even as Abbas fears deportation to his war-ravaged country.

      Don't let the cheery image above fool you: A Season in France is an emotionally grinding tale of forced migration told through the eyes of Africans trying to retain their dignity and optimism in the face of a ruthlessly efficient state. The powerful performances of all the main actors make this film soar above others of its ilk, even if it does seem to start a little slowly.

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