Dry Season (2006)

Happy Mubi Monday! This week’s review for Mubi Monday comes from the country of Chad. It is…Dry Season (2006).

Title: Dry Season

Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Released: September 1, 2006 (Venice Film Festival)

Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes

Available to stream on: Mubi

Sixteen-year-old Atim (Ali Barkai) lost his father before he was born. His father was killed during the forty-year civil war in Chad. The war is now over and, much to the dismay of Atim, the Chadian government has decided to grant amnesty to all war criminals. Atim’s grandfather is furious. He orders Atim to hunt down the man who made him an orphan and even arms Atim with his father’s gun to carry out the act.

Atim wastes no time in tracking down his father’s killer, a man by the name of Nassara (Youssouf Djaoro). He finds that Nassara runs a bakery and begins lurking out in front of it. Eventually Nassara asks Atim if he’d like a job with him in the bakery. Atim agrees and now sees himself with ample opportunities to kill the man who killed his father.

However, the more time that Atim spends working with Nassara, the more he realizes that Nassara is no longer a cold-blooded killer. He has a pregnant wife, regularly attends mosque, and is a new man. So much so, that Nassara takes Atim under his wing and shows him how to make bread and run the bakery.

Despite Nassara’s show of goodwill, Atim is here on a mission. But will he be able to betray the man who has taken him in as his own?

Movies like this are why I love Mubi. Had it not been for Mubi, there is a good chance this would have never even been on my radar. What drew me to it was the simple fact that there isn’t a lot of opportunity to watch films from Chad.

The story itself is rather straightforward. However, what starts out as a simple revenge flick quickly evolves into a layered emotional drama wrapped within a revenge flick. While you’d expect a revenge film to be jam-packed with action, the exact opposite is true with Dry Season (2006).

There are large portions of Dry Season (2006) that have absolutely no dialogue. While one might fear this could turn viewers away, the exact opposite is true. I found myself captivated from beginning to end. Rather than having dialogue be what drives the story, we are treated to a non-verbal showcase from both Ali and Youssouf as Atim and Nassara. I was floored by the raw emotion on display as they work side-by-side and Nassara takes Atim under his wing.

Without giving away anything of too much significance, consider this your recommendation to go and watch Dry Season (2006).

In fact, if you haven’t seen it yet, go ahead and remedy that with a month of Mubi for free here.

If you’ve seen Dry Season (2006), I want to hear all about it.

Whether it’s a comment below with your thoughts or reaching out on social media, I want to hear from you.

As always, keep tabs on what else I’ve been watching over on my Letterboxd page.