‘The Village Next to Paradise’ narrates the story of life in a Somali coastal village. They were directed by Mo Harawe, an Austrian-Somali filmmaker, with work by Egyptian Director of Photography Mostafa El Kashef. In its premiere at Cannes 2024, Un Certain Regard, is the story of a family’s struggle with life under the constant menace of drone strikes for a better future.
It begins with an actual news bulletin detailing a U.S. drone strike targeting smugglers in Somalia; the event even comes complete with CGI graphics reenacting the raid. This establishes the basis of a very strong critique that the Western media portrays situations in very simplistic manners. The tidy narrative of the broadcast comes in stark contrast to the on-the-ground-sloppy realities, a deeper, textured truth.
The story centers on the character Mamargade, played by Ahmed Ali Farah, a gravedigger mainly for drone strike victims but who also dabbles in the smuggling of arms and other contraband. Compounding Mamargade’s life is his charge of a young boy, whom he eventually sends to boarding school in an often derided attempt to escape burdens. This sets up friction between such emotional detachments and a family’s struggle for survival, constructing the film’s very core.
The cinematography of El Kashef is excellent, and that makes ‘The Village Next to Paradise’ a visual delight. His style of framing, like bringing the focus on the feet of characters when they are talking or trying to capture the reaction of a boy towards a hospital scene without showing the chaos around him, does provide a certain amount of depth to the film. It gives added effect to the story because the emotional undercurrents are being spotlighted here more than the overt actions of people.
It has a strong visual and emotional basis, yet the film will most likely try the patience of a number of its viewers with its pacing and resulting structure in terms of narrative. The tension is built up slowly, and whatever comes at the end may feel weak compared to that buildup. But its strength lies there: it can show, very harshly, the nuanced realities of life in Somalia, quite in opposition to the oversimplified media hype.
To say in other words, ‘The Village Next to Paradise’ is an excellent film with superb visual storytelling and performances, but then it will not appeal to everyone, seeing the slow pace and storyline. But it does manage to offer such an insight into the multilayered critical view of drone strikes and daily struggles taking place in its shadow.
The Village Next to Paradise