Film review – Daratt

Peter Rice reviews Daratt (Dry Season) a film which asks how a country can overcome the horrors of civil war.

''Set in the aftermath of the civil war in Chad, Daratt is a tale of revenge and forgiveness.'' ''Realising that his son’s killer will never be brought to justice, Atim’s grandfather, equips Atim with his father’s gun and sends him on a mission to shoot the man who killed his father.'' ''Haroun’s direction gives us a clear view of Chad’s arid landscape, the sandy walls of the houses glowing under the white light of the sun emphasising the oppressive environment.''

Set in the aftermath of the civil war in Chad, Daratt is a tale of revenge and forgiveness. The film opens in the main character Atim’s village, where he lives with his grandfather. They hear a radio broadcast from the Ministry of Justice and Truth, announcing that there will be an amnesty for all those who committed war crimes during the civil war, during which it is assumed Atim’s father had been killed. Realising that his son’s killer will never be brought to justice, Atim’s grandfather, equips Atim with his father’s gun and sends him on a mission to shoot the man who killed his father.

Atim is clearly focused on his mission and his grim determination is emphasised by his refusal to play football and his rejection of religious ritual. “Going to the mosque won’t redeem you,” he declares, as the purpose of his life is to avenge his father’s death. However, in the parched, dusty setting of Chad’s capital N’Djamena, Atim softens under the tutelage of a local baker, Nassara. Despite the tension between Atim’s need for a father figure and his desire to remain loyal to the ghost of his father, he finds a degree of personal fulfilment in the sweat-inducing heat of the baker’s oven-room and through his relationship with Nassara’s wife, the nature of which is left ambiguous. These, however, are left behind as the film continues to return to the central focus of Atim’s ambitions, and the final scene in the desert leaves us in no doubt as to the opinion of the director (the acclaimed Mahamat-Saleh Haroun) for how Chad should move on from the atrocities of the civil war.

Haroun’s direction gives us a clear view of Chad’s arid landscape, the sandy walls of the houses glowing under the white light of the sun emphasising the oppressive environment. There is no gratuitous violence and very little dialogue. Most of the communication is achieved through body language and long silences, in which the characters glare directly at each other with aggressive intent. It is perhaps slightly fortunate that the role of Atim (played by Ali Bacha Barkai) generally only involves the display of one emotion (grim determination) as Barkai does not appear to have that much range.

There is also a lack of explanation for many of the interactions between the characters. This is of little consequence, though, as it is a constant reminder that the relationships in the film symbolise the relationship between the younger and older generation in Chad, where the younger generation seeks justice for the crimes of the older generation. In general, the intensity created by the lack of dialogue, ambiguous relations, aggressive body language and harsh landscape, make Daratt compelling viewing, and a fascinating insight into the psychological aftermath of civil war.