Searching for a mother, a reluctant mother and a mother of a blockbuster.
Protectors watch over him in quest to find mother
Exil ★★★ Directed by: Charles-Olivier Michaud Starring: Francis Cléophat, Julie Le Breton, Maxime Dumontier, Paul Doucet, Lina Roessler, Stephen McHattie, Ralph Prosper, Zeneb Blanchet Running time: 99 minutes
Watching Exil, it’s easy to forget you’re seeing a work of fiction. Writer-director Charles-Olivier Michaud takes a very naturalistic approach in this powerful drama about a Haitian boy’s search for his mother.
That so-real-it-hurts style is Exil’s most winning quality. That said, some will likely have difficulty with the way Michaud tells the story. The young guy at the centre of it, Samuel (Francis Cléophat), is not exactly a big talker. In fact, he hardly speaks at all. Instead, the lion’s share of the storytelling comes via the narration, handled with much assurance by Quebec author and radio personality Stanley Péan, who chronicles the boy’s epic journey in poetic fashion from the point of view of the adult Samuel.
The story begins in a Haitian town where Samuel’s life is savagely turned upside down when his dad is kidnapped, presumably in retaliation for his work as a journalist fighting for social justice. The kid had been told that his mother had died years earlier, but shortly after his dad’s abduction he learns that she is still alive and is believed to have taken off to the U.S.
From that moment, Samuel is determined to get to the U.S. and try to find her. He makes it onto a ship that’s bringing illegal refugees to Florida, and it’s on the ship that he meets a young girl named Rose (Zeneb Blanchet). Soon enough, the two of them are tossed overboard and find themselves on a beach and on the run from the American authorities.
When he can’t find any trace of his mom in Miami, the boy heads for New York City, getting there with a little help from a gruff trucker with a heart of gold, played by Stephen McHattie. In the Big Apple, he immediately makes another pal — sort of — in the thug Jerome (Ralph Prosper). I say “sort of ” because part of his initiation into the gang involves these hoods beating him up. The final section of the film takes place in Montreal.
Though there’s a realism to the shooting style, the way Samuel bounces from one guardian angel to another will stretch some viewers’ suspension of disbelief too far. It didn’t bother me, because it’s so clear that Michaud wants this to be an allegory. It’s Samuel’s voyage into manhood as he learns from each of these protectors.
Cléophat is very good in his first major film role. He has an innocence to his look, but also conveys a certain world-weariness. McHattie is excellent — as usual — as the trucker, but all of the other actors have such small roles that it doesn’t give them much time or space to make an impression.
Michel Corriveau’s atmospheric score is understated, but comes to the fore at just the right moments.