Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Jan Philipp Weyl
Starring: Mikiyas Wolde, Ashenafi Nigusu, Joseph Reta Belay, Samrawit Desalegn, Genene Alemu
Running Against the Wind, Jan Philipp Weyl’s (with Michael Wogh sharing writing
duties) sweet natured melodrama about the diverse destinies of two
childhood friends, was the Ethiopian submission for Best International
Film in the 2020 Academy Awards (the year that
Parasite
won). Weyl’s film wasn’t nominated, but the fact that the film itself
exists (and is so charmingly watchable) is perhaps cause in itself for
celebration. The film industry in Ethiopia is nascent, consisting of small
independent producers with very little capital and a limited access to
resources. It seems that any product within Ethiopian cinema is a triumph
of will, focus and fortune; a congruous metaphor for
Running Against the Wind with its dual bildungsroman of
Ethiopian children struggling against the odds.
Abdi and Solomon grow up together in an impoverished village. Abdi, much
like the celebrated Ethiopian athlete Haile Gebrselassie (who claimed his
success as a long distance runner was due to having to hotfoot the 10km
route to school and suchlike) takes to running. And when a white
photographer visits the hamlet to capture images of the indigenous life,
the more nonchalant Solomon is intrigued and ends up being given a camera,
which he discovers he has a talent for using.
Early sequences of Running Against the Wind are filmed with
an appropriately sharp and creative eye: the savannahs are violet and
turquoise at night, the desert floor shiny and marbled at day, with
searing geysers filling the frame with silvery steam. The terrain is vivid
and unforgiving, and the exclusive passions with which the boys take to
their respective hobbies are deeply linked to their circumstances and
surroundings: what else is there to do?
Intriguingly, the film does probe at the differing nature of the two
disciplines. Abdi’s running is recognised, and he has support from the
community. As an artist, however, Solomon is more solitary and wistful and
so during adolescence he leaves the village for the big dreams of the
city. The film’s management of chronology is intuitive, with the narrative
floating across significant moments in the boys’ lives. Soon, Solomon (Mikias Wolde) is a young man living in a shanty town with a partner and little girl,
while Abdi (Ashenafi Nigusu) is a significant player on the hugely
popular athletics scene.
The paths of the two men cross again: Abdi is successful and newly
wealthy, while Solomon is struggling and compromised by his links to the
gangland of Addis Ababa. A deliberate irony of the film is how while Abdi
runs professionally, Solomon is often filmed running for his life, from
some petty crime or another, or, later, from the violent clutches of the
gang he has extricated himself from. The film itself, however, is in no
hurry and takes its time to craft an involving narrative of outrageous
fortunes.
A major aspect of the film’s appeal is Nigusu’s performance. With a wall
to wall smile, his Abdi is just lovely, a genuinely decent guy who
struggles not only with his responsibility to Solomon but the hopes that
the entire country seem to have invested in his ongoing success.
At times, the storytelling is slightly loose (in one scene Abdi has a
right pop at Solomon for blowing a meeting with a famous photographer, yet
in the very next scene we jump cut to Solomon’s successful independent
exhibition, scored by uplifting chimurenga: what happened in the
interim?), but the stirring imagery and committed performances of
Running Against the Wind earn this film a proud bronze.
Running Against the Wind is on UK
VOD now.
