Waiting For Happiness (2002/Africa/France)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B-
Abderrahmane
Sissako is a filmmaker who is somewhere between Third World Cinema filmmakers
and the more artistic, quiet lingering filmmakers of many a new wave. In Waiting
For Happiness (2002), he takes a spare community on the edge of the desert
and deals comically and ironically with their lives that in some ways are at
peace with the world around them and in other ways on the edge of being lost.
Since where
they live is not the best place in the world, they must decide whether they
remain where they are and make the best of it or go away elsewhere, but with no
resources or major source of wealth, it is not an easy choice. And with all this, it is still a comedy, and
not just because it is a situation to just laugh at. Instead, Sissako’s screenplay is smart, takes
its time to show and say what it wants to say and the resulting film constantly
has a pace that never lets up without being bombastic or condescending as a
boutique independent production might be.
When all was said and done, here was a filmmaker who has the talent to
put his ideas clearly on screen and that is why waiting to see Waiting For Happiness would be a
mistake if you missed it. Now there’s
this new DVD from New Yorker and we should all hope it finds the film and its
creator the widest possible audience.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is soft throughout and it is possibly a
PAL master without complete NTSC conversion.
I still liked the camera angles, shot choices and the capturing of some
memorable locations. The Dolby Digital
2.0 sound is simple stereo at best captured on location. Like the images, sound is often minimal, but
this approach works in both cases.
Extras include liners notes inside the DVD case with a Jared Rapfagel
essay, text bio on & notes by the director and an on camera interview with
the director from a TV series that serves as an introduction to the film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
