Historical drama
A forgotten chapter of history: “My son, the soldier”
Omar Sy (r) as Bakary and Alassane Diong as his son Thierno in a scene from the film “My Son, the Soldier”. photo
© –/Weltkino Filmverleih/dpa
It is a film about one of the often kept secret sides of the First World War. This is not the only reason why the film with Omar Sy attracted more than a million visitors in France in just under four weeks.
The young Thierno (Alassane Diong) is forcibly recruited by the French army in a small Senegalese village in 1917. France has been fighting against Germany and its allies for more than three years and needs to reinforce its troops. His father Bakary (Omar Sy) volunteers. He wants to bring his son Thierno back from the First World War alive – whatever the cost.
In “My Son, the Soldier” the French director Mathieu Vadepied addresses the terrible fate of Africans who were often forcibly conscripted by the French army during the colonial period. They usually fought on the front lines and served as cannon fodder.
Beyond the initial, somewhat cliched images of a peaceful Senegal before the reality of war, the film shows the absurdity of the fighting from the perspective of Africans: the horrors of the trenches in Verdun, the tensions between French and African soldiers, some of whom did not speak French.
Two dramas that run parallel
The film (originally “Tirailleurs”) attracted more than a million viewers to cinemas in France less than four weeks after its release. In addition to Sy’s strong acting performance, this is probably due, among other things, to the fact that Vadepied deals with a side of the First World War that is little known in French history books.
Basically, Vadepied tells two dramas at once. The focus is on the relationship between father and son, which in turn is linked to the war in which they are involved. Thierno is blinded by his admiration for his white and French lieutenant. He appointed the 17-year-old corporal. The father is now under the orders of his son. Bakary and Thierno inevitably come into conflict because his father only wants one thing: to leave the hell of the trenches with him.
“My Son, the Soldier” is the second directorial work by Vadepied, who, as cameraman, met Omar Sy in 2011 while filming “Pretty Best Friends”. The powerful story partly reflects that of the actor, whose father is Senegalese. In the film, Sy, who is also a co-producer of the drama, speaks Pulaar, the language of both his parents, which he grew up with.