London River directed by Rachid Bouchareb.
You may remember five years ago this month four suicide bombers set off three bombs on the London Tube and one on a double decker bus, killing over 50 people, injuring hundreds and causing utter chaos in London. This film is set on that day and the few days following.
Rachid Boucareb's last film was the fine Indigenes (Days of Glory) about the little told account of African and Arab volunteer soldiers from the ex French colonies during WW2, and their shameful treatment. In London River he brings an outsiders eye to that terrible time in 2005 when we all realised that people born in our own country could be radicalised enough to blow themselves up, thus causing a whole new era of suspicion and fear.
Elizabeth Sommers (Brenda Blethyn) lives the quiet life on her smallholding in Guernsey (an island in the English Channel between France and England in case you don't know). She's a widow whose husband died in the Falklands War. Her daughter Jane has gone to live in London. Elizabeth sees the tv news on the morning of 7/7, and the chaos in London she tries to phone Jane with no success. When Jane still hasn't made contact, Elizabeth decides to leave the farm with her brother and goes to London to find Jane.
At the same time, Ousmane, an elderly man working as a forester in France learns from his estranged wife back in Mali that she hasn't been able to contact their son, Ali, who lives in London. Ousmane is charged with going to London to find Ali who he hasn't seen since Ali was six years old.
Thus the parallel stories begin, and eventually converge. I don't want to give you too many details cos although the storyline is slow and deliberate, the journey is fractious and there's many telling little incidents that convey our attitudes to each other as strangers.
Elizabeth struggles in London, a big cosmopolitan city surrounded by people from all over the world, so different from her quiet life in the countryside in Guernsey which is a conservative, affluent island. The police, overwhelmed by the emergency, cannot offer her help to find Jane apart from a list of hospital emergency departments to check. She wanders the streets showing pictures of her missing daughter to passers-by.
Ousmane heads for the nearest mosque and is helped to find some information about his son through the mosque links. Pointers start to emerge that Jane and Ali knew each other, which Elizabeth, increasingly distraught, fights to understand.
London River is on the surface the story of two people with missing children in a terrifying situation, but underneath is an age old tale of children living a life unknown to their parents. Elizabeth's gradual realisation of the truth of their childrens relationship is realistic and affecting. Ousmane's truth comes along with the realisation of the many years of not knowing his son.
Funny, my friend said she could barely watch Belinda Blethyn as she was so jittery but I found that extraordinarily realistic. Imagine yourself in her shoes at that time..jeez.
Sotigui Kouyaté who plays Ousmane is just a fantastic figure. Very tall, thin and dreadlocked, he strides slowly round London with his walking stick, calmly listening with an air of solemn acceptance. These two characters, seemingly culturally worlds apart have more in common than first appears - their links to nature and their faith brings them together.
Sadly, Sotigui Kouyaté a fine actor and griot (a traditional African storyteller) died a few months ago, but this film stands in tribute to his compelling screen presence and quiet dignity.
4.25/5