Waiting for Happiness Heremakono Abderrahmane Sissako, 2002, 96min
1. Elaborate on who the film was made for, and its vision of displaced people. 2. Expand on the film’s statement on migration. 3. Discuss three main observations relating to displaced people in the film. Waiting for Happiness or the Hassianyan equivalent of Heremakono, is a film written and directed by Mauritanian-born, Russian-educated director, Abderrahmane Sissako. The plot of Waiting for Happiness is not always clear, particularly to a westerner, the person for whom I believe Sissako directed this film. Keeping dialogues to the minimum, the film brings the focus of the viewer to the unspoken relationships between many characters who have all found themselves in Nouadhibou, a transitional town of sorts within the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in the west of Africa. Nouadhibou provides powerful scenery and allows Waiting for Happiness to show a community built around the duality of an industrial shipping port and a traditional fishing community. He captures a city that has desert swept streets, abandoned rusty shipwrecks and a vibrant traditional culture. In the process he also presents a foreign location to his western viewers; a way of life where electricity is not widely available, and where many migrants wait to raise funds or regroup before journeying further to Europe. The film as a whole does not concentrate on one conventional plot or a western form of storytelling, the director rather uses his characters to comment on a range of issues surrounding migration, relationships and transition. Focusing on the awkward moments an individual faces between when they decide in their mind to leave, and, eventually depart.
October 2009
Jo Szczepanska Erna Beumers
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Relationships during Transition
Assimilation
Loneliness
Abdallah is a young man and, the main character in Waiting for Happiness, although the plot is never spelt out for the audience, it seems that Abdallah has returned home to his mother in Nouadhibou before he embarks on further journey, potentially to Europe. What is made evident fairly quickly and plainly is his estrangement from his mother’s community and his home as a result. He looks and acts uncomfortable in his new setting; he doesn’t speak the language and for most of the film wears western clothing which is very much in contrast to the traditional clothing worn by others. Abdullah isolates himself further by avoiding contact with the outside world for most of his visit, preferring to stay indoors and reading books.
Despite his original resistance or disinterest, Abdullah makes a few attempts to assimilate into the local community, although none of them are particularly successful. He makes an attempt to learn the language from a young boy in the area. His fascination with the language can be seen but it isn’t really built upon by Abdullah further in the film, it is more of a curiosity than a genuine attempt to learn the language.
Although none of the characters share direct dialogue about loneliness, they are all quite isolated in the situations there are placed. Abdullah is a prime example, although he is with his mother, there is not real attempt to make a connection with her on his part. The only connection he makes is with a Nana, who herself is struggling with relationships after the death of her daughter and rejection by her child’s father. There is a strange scene where he gets into bed with her while she is asleep, hoping to steal a human connection, no matter how fleeting.
Light is utilised as a strong symbol throughout the film, one such example is when Abdullah’s mother tries to install a light in her home, potentially in an attempt to show her son things are changing and giving him a reason to try harder to integrate, and potentially a reason stay. She tries to make him happy at home, with her but is unsuccessful in her attempts because the connection is faulty. Although the two characters do not address the issue directly in the movie, there is an unspoken tension between the mother and her son. The mother wanting desperately for her son to stay in Nouadhibou, but seeing that the situation there was making him even more alienated and unhappy.
October 2009 Waiting for Happiness
The main character of the film also at one point tries to dress in a more traditional outfit. And when he finds himself in an awkward situation where he matches a whole room’s decor that endeavour is also dropped. In the later stages of the film he is even sent out to socialise with some girls, but all of these attempts appear to be shallow measures to delay the inevitable. It seems that even prior to arriving to meet his mother, Abdullah had made the decision to leave. The point of his visit was not to return for good, but to say goodbye.
Alternatively Sissako also shows a lone Chinese man at karaoke bar serenading a local woman, maybe his girlfriend, singing in Mandarin a song about longing to return home. Perhaps showing in a really short scene the difficulty that migrants face, wanting to find happiness or normality in their current lives, while missing what they had in their original home. Unable to move forward, or go back.
Because of its lack of dialogue or monologue, Waiting for Happiness is a movie which lends itself to multiple interpretations, and I suspect each viewing allows for new insight and discoveries within the subtle plot. Multiple viewing would also provide a greater understanding of the symbology used by Sissako and the culture the film portrays.
Jo Szczepanska Erna Beumers
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October 2009 Waiting for Happiness
Jo Szczepanska Erna Beumers
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October 2009 Waiting for Happiness
Jo Szczepanska Erna Beumers
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October 2009 Waiting for Happiness
Jo Szczepanska Erna Beumers
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