During today’s very troubling times where immigrants are kidnapped and disappeared, I think it’s important that their stories remain told, to show that we’re in solidarity with them and that we understand what they have to go through in order to stay where they want to and not have to go back where they don’t want to.
Buy Souleymane’s Story Blu-rayFortunately, there are really great stories to be found, and Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story (2024) is definitely one of them. It takes a simple story of helplessness and also hope from an immigrant’s point of view and turns into something so rich and profound.
Abou Sangare (in a marvelous breakout performance) is Souleymane, a Guinea immigrant making food deliveries on the streets of Paris. He struggles to make ends meets, gets hit by a car, fails to get a certain amount of money from a so-called friend, and nearly misses the bus several times. He also continues to repeat his own life story, which could make or break his future especially when getting prepared for a crucial application interview for asylum to stay in France. But he is nonetheless determined to make it work despite the many obstacles that get in his way.
Again, the story has been told before, but this film has a definite sense of urgency, especially for the turbulent timeline migrants find themselves facing every single day, not just in France but all over the world. There’s also Sangare’s charisma that guides you along the way. He has so much appeal and talent that he makes you really care about Souleymane’s plight. He has no vanity, just natural realness, especially with the interview at the end of the film that brings it full circle.
I was immediately struck by the storytelling and the way that Paris itself becomes a character that surrounds Souleymane. As many migrants unfortunately don’t always make it out to the other side, I just hope his story gives them a little hope and the will to survive in this crazy world.
