Director:Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Cast:Youssouf Djaoro, Dioucounda Koma, Hadjé Fatimé N’Goua, Marius Yelolo, Djénéba Koné


A Screaming Man is a simple tale of love between a father & a son & how the rising political, social & economic pressure threatens it. The story of the film is the backdrop of war torn Chad where Adam (Youssouf Djaoro), a sixty year old pool attendant at the N’Djamena hotel, is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel (Dioucounda Koma) after the hotel is taken over by its Chinese owners. The country is then engulfed by civil war. The government demands that every citizen contributes in the war effort of the government. But since Adam is penniless he has nothing to do but to look up to his son for money. The district chief constantly harasses Adam for money & when he fails to pay they drafts his son Abdel to the army. Adam is slowly engulfed with the guilt that he did nothing to protect his son & lives with that guilt in “silence”.
This film is a true epic. Director Haroun perfectly draws the psychological state of Adam when he under a guilt of not doing enough to protect his son Abdel & bears the guilt in silence rather than scream. He also successfully portrays the ugly side of war, economic liberalisation & unemployment. The title of the film is sort of a misnomer for a general public. Adam only “screams” inside & doesn’t let his emotion show on the outside. Performance Youssouf Djaoro is outstanding in Adam’s role. He perfectly depicts the father who due to his conflicting interests fails to protect his son from the local militia. Even in this serious atmosphere, some welcome humor is provided by the minor characters of the movie, viz. the hotel’s cook & the gatekeeper. But sadly, films like this which should be watched by everyone doesn’t do very well in the box office because they do not have the necessary star power & “entertainment value” to them.