When young Hawa refuses once again to go live to a family's cousin to avoid foster care, she needs a new plan. Her grand-mother is about to die and Hawa needs a new mother to take care of her... Someone who would be the best mother in the world... And Michelle Obama is visiting Paris in a few days; Why not ask her? Desperate times mean desperate measures.
In this fairy-tale, Hawa will meet several guides (a.k.a French celebrities) who will help her on her quest and reveal herself to her.
Hawa is a one-of-a-kind movie where the heroin makes decision that we do not expect. Her personality as well is not a traditional one. She is not the cute, bright-eyes, candid, endearing young girl you could imagine. Hawa is a fighter, she is rough, she lacks social polish, she doesn't try to be loved, she is only bent to her one and only goal: not to be sent in foster care after her grandmother's death.
Choosing an albino child actress to embody Hawa is a statement in itself, and Sania Halifa (Hawa) never disappoints. Whether you like her or not, she does not care, she will take on her journey and show you what it takes to become yourself.
The movie also shows several scenes where her grandmother (the singer Oumou Sangaré) perform traditional songs from Senegal that are both poignant and highly revealing. This family is not the typical baguette-eating, Catholic, fair-skinned one you would expect. They come from overseas, the old colonies, and fight to retain their heritage while making the most of their highly diverse neighborhood.
There are so many harrowing scenes where Hawa either misunderstand or discard other people's feelings as she is too engrossed with her own despair... But she learns, step by step. And she comes to accept that ordinary people can love an out-of-the-ordinary being like herself, and that she has a place in this wolrd of ours.
This movie can count amongst other Christmas fairy-tales where an orphan finds a new family - whether the 'dream' family or not, whether the 'likeable' orphan or not.
So far (dec 22), this is the best French original Amazon ever put on its platform.
