photo courtesy of Visions du Réel 2009

Nyon film festival 2009

by Jillian Hudson

The very essence of waiting and wanting seep through the screen in Bettina Haasen’s, “Hotel Sahara.” Heart-stopping cinematography coupled with a haunting soundtrack made this a film to remember. Haasen gives a voice to the dreams and desires of Africans in the westernmost point in Mauritania where they wait to attempt an illegal crossing to Spain by sea.

The film exposes the desires of people who, by merely following their dreams, feel they can never go home. As they speak of their reasons for wanting to find a way into Europe we see sadness in their eyes for having left behind everyone that they know and love. They exist in a sort of purgatory where the laws of the land won’t allow them to go forward and their sense of pride and responsibility for their family won’t allow them to go back.

They are the forgotten people on the outside quietly looking in. They are waiting for their chance to live the life that everyone seems to be allowed, except them. The film seems to subtly pose the question: “What makes their dreams and ambitions worth less than everyone else’s?”

see Visions du réel

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