Banel & Adama

The opening image of this movie, out of focus, seems to be of the sun, or a sun, appearing to undulate within the frame. The directorial debut of French-Senegalese filmmaker Ramata-Toulaye Sy, this is one of those pictures to which the phrase “every frame a painting” might apply. Light itself seems to be a character in the film. But despite the beauty that light often imparts to the frame, whether crystal clear or diffused by swirling sand, it’s not an entirely benevolent character.

The movie takes place in a rural Senegal village where the light is unremitting and merciless. Everyone in the movie is waiting for rain that doesn’t come, and the light punishes the livestock. Drought comes, and in its wake, famine. It’s hard just to live.