London River (Rachid Bouchareb, 2009): UK/France/Algeria

Reviewed by Linda Ersbacken. Viewed at The Chinese Mann Theater, Hollywood.

I saw London River at the AFI film festival in Hollywood. It was the first film I’ve seen at a film festival. Going in to the theater I had some expectations of the film, after seeing the trailers and having read the plot. I knew it was about the London Bombings of July, 2005, and I expected there to be a lot of action, and a thrilling story. What I got to see was quite the opposite. 

With close to no action, the film follows Elisabeth (Brenda Belthyn) and Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyaté) in the search for their daughter and son, who have been missing since the bombings. Elisabeth is a conservative woman who lives in the country side outside of London, where she takes care of her garden. When she hears about the London bombings, she calls her daughter, who lives in London, to make sure she is okay. When she doesn’t hear from her, she decides to go to London herself and look for her. Ousmane is a man from Africa who has spent the last 14 years in France. He comes to London to search for his son, on the mother’s request. Ousmane hasn’t seen his son since he was 6, and lived in Africa, and doesn’t even know what his son looks like anymore. 

In London, the two parents randomly bump into each other on several occasions, but insist on continuing the search separately. Elisabeth is scared, and has a lot of prejudice and does not feel the need to let someone in, during this emotional search. Belthyn portrais her character very well. There are also symbols that makes it easier to understand her confusion and fears. It is clear she doesn’t know her daughter very well. She is repulsed when she sees where her daughter lives in London. The mise-en-scene is very different for the nature scenes compared to the city scenes, which makes it easier for us to understand why she feels lost and intimidated. Elisabeth does not want to trust Ousmane at first, but we, the audience know that they come from similar environments and could help each other cope during the circumstances. 

Instead of being an action packed terrorism film, it is a beautifully made drama about overcoming prejudice in times of darkness. The story was semi predictable but I thought it worked anyway. I was eager not only to find out what happened to their children but also to see the development of the two parent’s friendship. The acting played a huge part, both Belthyn and Kouyaté are great in their roles!  I’m glad I got to go see this at the AFI film festival since it is probably not a movie I would have thought to go see in theaters, that being said, I think it is definitely worth watching!