This is a lovely film. A lesson on how to overcome life's setbacks and prejudices, take it on the chin, rise above it all and succeed.
You'd never, ever, get a movie like this in America because it doesn't blame anyone and it places personal responsibility for progress on the dispossessed.
We've seen the theme many times where Blacks or Indians or Asians are sent by fate into an alien society and this story unfolds to show how the prejudices of the locals are overcome.
This French Ciné does it perfectly and I have to say that both the French and the Italians have a knack of presenting these stories in very heartwarming and forgiving ways. Maybe it's from their respective years of colonial rule... who knows why?
The Black African doctor and his family arrive from Zaire to take up a post in a rural French village and of course nobody can accept it. Undeterred, the Doctor does everything he can to win the confidence and friendship of the villagers and he does so with his personal charm and the innocence of his wife and kids.
If only it could be that easy in the rest of the world, the newspapers and TV news channels would be out of business!
Superb acting by Marc Zinga and Aissa Maiga carry the movie along and the kids are as cute as buttons. Many scenes have you biting your lip with emotion and it won't spoil anything to tell you that you'll feel pretty good about humanity at the end.
Well worth watching, 'cos it will teach you that there is a way out of the current racial roadblock.
You'd never, ever, get a movie like this in America because it doesn't blame anyone and it places personal responsibility for progress on the dispossessed.
We've seen the theme many times where Blacks or Indians or Asians are sent by fate into an alien society and this story unfolds to show how the prejudices of the locals are overcome.
This French Ciné does it perfectly and I have to say that both the French and the Italians have a knack of presenting these stories in very heartwarming and forgiving ways. Maybe it's from their respective years of colonial rule... who knows why?
The Black African doctor and his family arrive from Zaire to take up a post in a rural French village and of course nobody can accept it. Undeterred, the Doctor does everything he can to win the confidence and friendship of the villagers and he does so with his personal charm and the innocence of his wife and kids.
If only it could be that easy in the rest of the world, the newspapers and TV news channels would be out of business!
Superb acting by Marc Zinga and Aissa Maiga carry the movie along and the kids are as cute as buttons. Many scenes have you biting your lip with emotion and it won't spoil anything to tell you that you'll feel pretty good about humanity at the end.
Well worth watching, 'cos it will teach you that there is a way out of the current racial roadblock.