Shot matter-of-factly, there is however a fairytale or fabular quality to this Cameroonian documentary, in how it portrays the impact of the terrorist group Boko Haram through the lives of children, and how displacement and violence surface in their idle chatter and not-so-innocent drawings. When young truant brothers Mohamed and Ibrahim finally do a runner into the countryside to which they seem inextricably drawn, it almost has the air of some misadventure out of an early Terrence Malick film transplanted to the Sahel.
The locale is the village of Kolofata near the Nigerian border, under constant surveillance from military forces because of insurgents in the nearby mountains. It’s never 100% clear what has become of Mohamed and Ibrahim’s parents; either they’ve taken up with Boko Haram, or been kidnapped by them. Not that these two incorrigible, school-dodging tykes are much help clearing things up; questioned by concerned villagers, Mohamed, the eldest, obviously knows more than he lets on. Their teacher Mr Lamine has his work cut out to keep them in the classroom; others, such as diligent Falta, realise that studying can mean liberation.
Calmly ensconced with the boys as they bicker over whether school or the military are best, or sat with Falta as her mother tries to get her malaria treated, director Cyrielle Raingou simply watches. Even as the classroom insists that alternative paths are open to these youngsters, it often feels as if a mute fatalism governs their lives. Entrenched forces are everywhere; even after the doctor warns her off traditional medicine, Falta’s mother still insists on seeing a marabout. Despite their headstrong nature, the brothers seem under the sway of these unknowable gods; and at one point seem to have lost their lives to them, after two youths are reported drowned in a Nigerian river.
Raingou demarcates these multiple threads somewhat loosely, making them a bit hard to follow at times. But her decision to portray this conflict indirectly through the most vulnerable and malleable is subtle, powerful and strangely haunting.