FILMS/
EZRA
New Directors
Nigeria/France/Austria, 2007, 110 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Sun, Apr 27 / 9:00 / Kabuki / EZRA27K
Tue, Apr 29 / 3:30 / Kabuki / EZRA29K
Thu, May 1 / 6:30 / PFA / EZRA01P
CREDITS
- dir
-
Newton I. Aduaka
- prod
-
Michel Loro, Gorune Aprikinian
- scr
-
Newton I. Aduaka, Alain-Michel Blanc
- cam
-
Carlos Arango de Montis
- editor
-
Sebastien Touta
- mus
-
Nicolas Baby
- cast
-
Mamodou Turay Kamara, Mariame N’Diaye, Mamusu Kallon, Merveille Lukeba, Richard Gant
- source
-
California Newsreel, 500 3rd Street, Suite 505, San Francisco, CA 94107. FAX: 415.284.7801. EMAIL: cm@newsreel.org
Nigerian-born filmmaker Newton I. Aduaka, whose family suffered through the Biafran War of the late 1960s, brings a special sensitivity to this drama about the life of a child soldier. The film opens on the very young Ezra walking down a country road to school in an unnamed African country (most likely Sierra Leone). Just as class begins, gunfire disrupts the calm as rebel troops swoop down, later forcing the youngsters on a long march through the bush. Structured in nonlinear fashion, the story jumps forward a decade to Ezra testifying before a truth and reconciliation hearing. From there, Ezra’s flashbacks show children eventually forming substitute families in the militias, as they come to doubt they will ever see their real families again. Coerced, indoctrinated and drugged into becoming marauding looters and killers, these youth unwittingly enrich rebel leaders, arms traders and exploiters of local resources (most notably diamonds). Rather than focusing on battle scenes, Ezra provides a compassionate psychological portrait of war’s survivors as a vehicle for healing individuals and a nation. Aduaka expertly manages the tension throughout and draws solid naturalistic performances from his cast. Ezra won the coveted Grand Prize at Fespaco, Africa’s most important cinematic showcase.
—Cornelius Moore
1968–2008 Celebrating 40 years of California Newsreel. Presented in association with the San Francisco Black Film Festival.
