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

Reviewed by Anaiya Mussolini. Viewed at Mann Chinese Theater in LA, CA. as part of the 2009 AFI film festival.

London River captures the very essence of what we would never want to happen, loose our kids. Although it is a great movie, it starts off really slow and lacks in action. This story depicts a woman named Elizabeth (Brenda Blethlyn) who goes searching for her daughter after seeing a bus in London blow up in the town that she lived in. While in her search she discovers a man who’s name is Ousmane (Sotigui Kouyatee) that is also looking for his son as well.   Although she does not trust him at first she realizes she needs him in hopes to find what happened to her daughter. There is a clever humor to this film because as she is looking for her daughter she runs into Ousmane  everywhere, at the store, and even at the school where her daughter attended Arabic classes.   Both characters seem alone in this movie giving a sense to how the end will be. Elizabeth’s husband who died in the royal navy is not there to help and console her and Ousmane who left his son when he was only 5 goes in search of him only for the sake of the the boy’s mother  So in a way these two people share a common bond.

The mise-en-scene of this movie is very cold and dry.  It never really shows you the city of London, it hides you from it, which foreshadows the ending. There are many camera shots where they place meaning on the nature and show this particular bluffs overlooking the ocean showing how the water helps console Elizabeth leaving you with this feeling of just how important nature really is.  Ousmane also has his place where walks with the trees, showing what makes him feel relaxed.  After all his work is to protect them.  Though very beautiful,  when the tress are shown, the rain and the music seems to showcase how the characters are both feeling, which is sad, lost and alone.  This movie does not ever seem to have hope but I think that is intended on purpose. It is not so much about hope,  it is more about two people finding each other in desperate times and learning how to cope.  It is trying to show the beauty in living through misery.

There is a scene towards the end of the movie when they both find out the truth as to what happened to their kid’s.  The editing in this one specific shot showcases just Elizabeth in this dark hallway which is a single continuous shot with no interruptions from the camera fro a very long time.  When she grabs on to the wall it is as if she is grabbing on to something that is not there, her daughter.  Also, after finally finding out the truth Ousmane, whos job it was to protect the trees now disregards his love for them and says, Chop them down, signifying the death of his son.

There was sorrow transformed into beauty in this one song that Ousmane sang to Elizabeth.  Even though the mood was tragic, the song captured true happiness in living life, showing that there can even be beauty in death and that was really impressive.  On that note, I highly recommend this film

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Published:
11.04.09 / 10am
Category:
AFI Filmfest 2009, Films