Samba. Dir. Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. Canal+, 2014. DVD and Amazon Prime. 119 minutes.
For plot summary and other details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba_(2014_film)
Language: French
Setting: 2013, Paris
Thoughts from the film: Everyone has a conflict; some are more visible than others. Samba clearly grapples with immigration law and the injustice of having worked in France for 10 years and still being refused residency. Alice, on the other hand, seems to have her life together as a social worker, but she suffered from “burnout” and has insomnia. Together, Alice and Samba balance each other. That cliché harmony nuances when Samba has an opportunity to stay in France (and thus with Alice) at the expense of a dead man.
Someone must be fleeing an awful situation to go to such extents to not return. It’s frustrating that the law doesn’t readily recognize that difficulty. Limited resources can’t be the only hinderance to creating a more flexible system.
Keywords: Migration, Senegal, employment, citizenship, systemic neglect