Daratt review

Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

The African state of Chad, 2006: 16-year-old Atim (Ali Barkai) has grown up in a country traumatised by perpetual civil war. When a government amnesty sets free all of the country’s war criminals, Atim’s grandfather hands him a revolver and tells him to aim it at the man who killed his father. Found easily enough, Nassara (played by Youssouf Djaoro) takes a shine to the lad, putting him to work in his bakery. After hesitating so long, can Atim tug the trigger? Writer-director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Abouna) knows this territory up close: wounded in the war himself, he was smuggled out of the country in a wheelbarrow. But Daratt (aka Dry Season) is no exercise in gritty realism. Taking its cue from Chad’s parched, barren landscapes, it’s more a stark, minimalist fable, rigorously controlled but imbued with hope and humanity.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.