David R. Walker

My Friend

Director: Mohamed Zran

Cast: Fethi Akkari, Mamadou Diallo

Running Time: 85 minutes

Country of Origin: Tunisia

Festival: Durban International Film Festival

Language: Arabic and French with English Subtitles.

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

PLEASE NOTE THERE WAS LIMITED PUBLICITY AVAILABLE FOR THIS FILM: POSTERS & STOCK IMAGES.

Tunisian director Mohamed Zran’s 85 minute film My Friend closed the 47^th Durban International Film Festival https://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za/ and follows the nocturnal and nefarious wonderings of a Senegalese immigrant to Tunisia Idrissa who decides to assist Hassan, a down and out old man who has been badly injured and is sleeping in the doorway of someone’s home in Tunis.

My Friend is shot entirely in one take with no editing, which makes the film engrossing but also difficult to watch as the audience follows the adventures and horrors of Idrissa as he valiantly attempts to get Hassan to a hospital in Tunis which is unfortunately on the outskirts of town perched on a hill.

As Idrissa and Hassan ward off racist attacks and attempted muggings by discontented youths in a nocturnal Tunis, My Friend follows the story of the two men as they attempt to get to safety. No good deed goes unpunished as Idrissa soon finds that he is robbed and his immigration papers which allow him to stay in Tunisia are stolen.

Tunisia is also a stopping off point for migrants to get from central Africa to Europe as it is a stone’s throw away from the flashy resorts of Italy and France in the Mediterranean.

Broke, injured and hungry, Idrissa and Hassan press on towards their destination, a hospital which should be a place for healing and medical assistance but turns out to hold a fate far worse for Idrissa.

My Friend is a fascinating and daunting exploration of an unlikely friendship at the tipping point of it collapsing as Hassan, a Tunisian citizen will find all the help he requires while Idrissa, a Senegalese outcast will be treated as a hostile pariah.

Director Mohamed Zran’s film My Friend is recommended as an arthouse film and unfortunately does lack commercial appeal but stands up as a scathing judgement of Tunisian society who views foreigners as non-citizens, a trend which seems to be replicated the world over.

Tackling issues of homelessness, poverty, immigration and the lack of human kindness, My Friend gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and was a fitting film to end off the Durban International Film Festival. If viewers catch it on a streaming site or elsewhere be sure to watch it.

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