THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – TO SEE
Djibouti, the burning white city in the Horn of Africa where Guillaume Bonnier’s first feature film debuts, is immediately announced as the point, both geographical and narrative, which separates the front and the after, the past and what will happen. The front is delivered to us by the voiceover. That of Isabelle (Daphné Patakia) who tells how, a year ago, she accepted the proposal of her companion, Jean (Pierre Lottin), to leave, with her son Damien, for a world tour in a sailboat.
They were in Toulon, had no plans, dreamed of seeing Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. They took off on Jean’s small pleasure boat, filming their crossing with a camcorder whose trembling and blurry images show us what they have already accomplished. Their crossing, for the time being, having been interrupted by an engine failure, they stop in Djibouti.
It is there that they meet Mike (Abdirisak Mohamed), a taxi driver ready to render all kinds of services. He knows everyone here, starting with those who can supply the parts needed to repair the engine at a good price. Discreet, acting without obsequiousness, the one everyone calls Mike, proves to be effective. So much so that when he asks Jean to take him with them to their next destination, the dangerous Gulf of Aden, the latter accepts, against Isabelle’s advice.
The couple and the child set sail again, accompanied by Mike. The sea will now be the only horizon of the film, the boat, the only space that Guillaume Bonnier films with flexibility, playing finely with the crampedness of the cabin and the anxiety it generates, leading his story with a meticulousness that transforms into language each gesture, each movement, each movement, and brushing of bodies.
Figure of all migrants
The character of each character is defined and affirmed gradually, Mike retaining his share of mystery. In this open-air camera, the drama is brewing. He appears in the guise of three fishermen in a boat who want to sell their fish. There are many pirates here. Without divulging more, we will say that the film here operates a shift. The adventure turns into a thriller. Later still, to tragedy.
We learn that Mike, in reality, is Somali, that he is ready to risk everything to never return to Djibouti and go to France. An emblematic figure of all migrants, the man confronts Isabelle and Jean with what they had chosen to flee while sailing. With Mike, the world catches up with them. And questions their certainties.
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