The seventeen year old Abdallah leaves his hometown, Bamako in Mali, and visits his mother in Nouadhibou in Mauritius, while he is waiting to move on to Europe.The small, sleepy fishing village on an island off the Atlantic coast, has become the meeting place for many refugees who all hope that this place will become the start of a new future. In this place of exile and uncertain hopes, Addallah attempts to understand the people who surround him, despite the fact that he does not speak their language. There is Nana, a young woman who tries to seduce him; Makan, who, like him, dreams of Europe; Maata, the fisherman who became an electrician; and Khatra, his apprentice, who attempts to teach Abdallah the local language so that he can break through the silence that he has been condemned to. All of these characters come together, move apart, and in their passing provide a wistful look into the fortunes that lie just beyond the horizon.
In this film, Abderrahmane Sissako takes on a topic which is close to his heart: the exile and the soft poetry of elapsed time.The scenes from every day life come together in the film to create a brilliant portrait of a society that longs to be…elsewhere.
