Western Sahara is one of those places, is a bit like Transnistria from Extincion, whose political identity is hostage to the fortune of geo-politics, meaning its inhabitants are in effect second class citizens, with most living in refugee camps. Hamada follows a handful of citizens who seek to get by in the outer reaches of the Sahara, expelled from their homeland, living in a refugee camp. The central character is Zaara, a young woman with a never-say-die attitude who is desperate to both get a job and learn to drive. The latter proves more feasible than the former. The film casts an affectionate gaze at Zaara and her companions. It’s filmed in a fly-on-the-wall style. There are no interviews, just captured conversations, which sometimes feel as though they’ve been staged a little clumsily. Nevertheless, the film succeeds in capturing the life and times of the Western Saharans, although slightly more insight into the political context of their plight would not have gone amiss.
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