L’histoire de Souleymane

THE STORY OF SOULEYMAN (L'Histoire de Souleymane) by Boris Lojkine is a realistic, honest, and empathetic view of the cruelty of the everyday lives of illegal migrants, devoid of patronizing both protagonists and viewers. With an excellent directorial and cinematographic work, Souleymane, a man in a perpetual dead race against time on the shiny, icy pavements of Paris, is a wonderful piece of acting (Abou Sangaré received the award for the best actor in the Un Certain Regard program). Quiet and polite, he works as a Wolt delivery man, comes from Guinea, lives on tea and coffee, and works with someone else's account since he has no legal status. His desire to work legally and live honestly is palpable, but he seems to be further away from that with every turn of the pedal. He is on a bicycle all day, homeless, and the little money he has left after he settles all the middlemen and brokers, he sends to his sick mother. A merciless app holds him tight and shoots him like a pinball up and down Paris. Constantly in fear of being caught, vulnerable to fraud and violence, completely expendable, he always ends up with even less than he had at the beginning, not only financially but also physically, mentally, and humanly. A kind of open ending is a painful blow and a direct question to the viewer - what is your role in this?