The Village Next to Paradise
Mo Harawe’s feature debut, the first Somali film to be an Official Selection at Cannes, recalls great works of Italian neorealism, rendering Somali life with stirring music, rich colors, fine textures, and bone-deep sentiment.
A news broadcast announces the U.S. drone strike that’s killed an Al Qaeda associate in a “remote area” of Somalia. When that story ends, The Village Next to Paradise begins: Mamargade is the hardworking civilian for whom burying this terrorist leader is but one way to provide for his family in a world of strivers and cheats. This deeply moving, brutally honest vision of Somali life probes economic and familial anxieties with a brilliance that recalls great works of Italian neorealism. In his feature debut, the first Somali film to be an Official Selection at Cannes, Mo Harawe has created a film of stirring music, rich colors, and fine textures, one that grants a better understanding of our planet and a deeper love for those on it.
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