The Chadian film Un homme qui crie was shown in the U.S. with the translated title A Screaming Man (2010). The movie was written and directed by the Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh HarounYoussouf Djaoro portrays Adam Ousmane, who is called "Champion." When he was younger, he won the Central African swimming championship, and the name has stayed with him. His son, Abdel Ousmane (Diouc Koma) works with his father in a high-end hotel in the nation's capital. Both of them work at the hotel's swimming pool, where Adam is respected, and Abdel is adored by everyone because of his good looks and his easy-going manner.This movie reminded me of a Greek tragedy. That's not because the father and son come into unwilling conflict, but because Adam has to make a choice between two terrible options. How can you do the right thing if either path you choose is the wrong path? When there are two compelling demands, and each precludes the other, what happens to the protagonist?Adam is caught in just such a situation. There's a war going on, and the local political boss demands payment to the government. Adam, although not poor, doesn't have the money to make the payment. What are his options?This movie is worth seeing on its own merits. That fact that it's from Chad makes it even more important to view it. If I counted correctly, less than a dozen films have been made in Chad. The superb Dryden Theatre at The Eastman Museum in Rochester is showing five of these movies as part of a Mahamat-Saleh Haroun retrospective. My compliments to the Dryden for giving us the opportunity to see these movies on the large screen. (Some of Haroun's films are available for the small screen, but some are not.) Seeing these movies on the large screen was truly a privilege. Un homme qui crie is a great film--see it if you can. P.S. Even with the resources of the Eastman Museum, a print of Haroun's "Bye Bye Africa" couldn't be located. If you know someone who has a print of that movie, please notify the Dryden Theatre.

Adam is a swimming champion, who has spent his entire life at or in the pool. His son, Abdel, also loves to swim, seeing as his father raised him to be a swimmer. When the Chinese take control of the luxury hotel that Adam works at, the manager decides to make Abdel the the pool attendant instead of Adam. This crushes Adam, because he lives for the pool. During the time of this happening, a civil war is going on in Chad. The army comes to draft, and they choose to draft Abdel. Adam does nothing about it, because he wants his job of pool attendant back. When his one and only son is sent away to the war, Adam is eaten away by his guilt. Abdel later goes to the army camp to save his son, but Abdel is already on the brink of death. The director says that it was God's will to not save Abdel, because Adam did not try to save Abdel. Overall, this movie uses Adam's guilt to show that he regretted the decisions that he made as a father.

A Screaming Man takes place in Chad, during a period of civil unrest among the population. The story focuses around the main character of Champ, an accomplished former swimmer. He makes his living working as a pool attendant for a hotel. His son then becomes drafted into the army after he refuses to pay to keep him out anymore. The story then follows as this man with the guilty conscience goes back to save his son from life as a soldier. Unfortunately, he dies of his wounds. I loved the directing for this movie. I thought it was phenomenal and completely different from American movies. There was a lot less fast paced action and it felt more like a real life situation than a movie. I also thought the title was a nice touch even though the man never screams. It felt more like he was internally dying.

A Screaming Man in my opinion was not a very great movie. I did not enjoy this much quite as much as the other ones because it was very slow. I understand that slow movies still have a meaning and a story behind them but it did not seem so as much in this film. It was not that clear to me how Abdel manages to take his dads job. How did it happen? What did he do? Because I know they called Adam into to office to ask if two worker were to many people for the pool and he said no it was a good amount of people. So I am assuming Abdel was like I think two people is one to many. The movies was full of selfish characters to me. Abdel took his dads job and his dad gets sent to work at the gate. Adam is not a fan of this and then gets him drafted into the civil war. This means that Adam gets his job back. He basically murdered his own son by sending him into the civil war. You can tell the movie is not an American movie y how slow it is. American movies move at a much faster rate. While I was watching the film I noticed globalization, the women from China was the head of a hotel in Chad. If I was to put myself in the shoes of one of the characters. I would have made it so Abdel as told the women from China that they needed two workers by the pool because that would have solved many conflicts throughout the film. If I could have changed the ending I would have made it so that the son does not die and that the family gets back together and Abdel's son is born.