An action-packed slog

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This has to be the yellowest film ever made... landscapes of yellow dust, huts made of yellow straw, men wearing yellow clothes (or more likely, clothes covered with yellow dust)... even the sky is yellow. The only splashes of other colors come in the clothing of the occasional woman. All this makes for a visually interesting effect, much like those old black and white photographs with colors painted on by hand to highlight certain areas. I found this film very interesting, not having been exposed previously to anything about gold mining in Africa, and was not expecting the kind of conditions that it depicts. The portrayal of the characters was done with a lot of dignity, and many themes were touched upon, but neither the themes nor the characters were explored with any depth, which has the effect of making the viewer feel detached from what is happening on screen, although in spite of that, I was able to forget that I was watching a film and enjoy the experience. Perhaps this was intentional. I was quite disappointed that the film didn't seem to have a real conclusion, although, there wasn't really anything to conclude. But real life is not necessarily a series of beginnings and conclusions to stories, and I think this has to be taken as a slice of life. It is definitely worth watching, just to experience a different quality of life.

Alright, Dreams of Dust.SPoilers aheadI must say that I was less satisfied with Dreams of Dust than I was with Yeelen or Waiting for Happiness.Its about a man running from his past. He comes to Mali to mine Gold. He was a farmer in Niger, but he had to leave after his daughter dies of Malaria. I think that the film implies that his wife and other children have already died, but its not made perfectly clear. The film opens with a beautiful shot of a landscape covered in dust, and as the wind blows a dust cloud along, the characters and setting of the film are revealed, like the pulling back of a curtain. A great wordless opening.You have Moctar, the main character, Thiam, who acts as his father figure, and Coumba and her daughter Marianne who function as the central characetrs. There are 2 or 3 other minor characters who speak a few words, but aren't central to the story, other than serving as a means for the director to convey a few more thing to the audience about the main character.Moctar takes a liking to Coumba, whose husband died mining a few years prior to his arrival. One day Moctar hurts himself while watching Coumba, and has to visit the doctor. I didn't really see the relevance in this scene, other than to have the doctor explain to us that blue- blues is alcohol mixed with amphetamines. Moctar befriends Coumba and her daughter, and Coumba tells him of her desire to send her daughter away to Paris to get an education. After finding a nugget of gold, Moctar gives them the money they need for the both of them to leave for Paris.At the end we see him mixing up some blue-blues, and then he sees Marianne running through the street. He follows her out of the village, and into the desert. I don't know if this was a hallucination, or a symbolic image. Is he going to follow her and her mother to Paris, or is he going to wander out into the desert and die?This is a very dry description of a film, that does contain more life than this, but the telling of the story carries no kind of dramatic weight. We don't really see much of the thought put into any of Moctar's decisions, we only watch him meditate on them after he has made them. The film has a plot, but not a very strong one. Let me make this clear, this is not the kind of film that does not have a plot, or is built of only vignettes. This is not "The Mirror" or even "Waiting for Happiness". There is a traditional story here. In "Waiting for Happiness", there is the story of the main character wanting to leave, but he is but a small player in that film. The other characters in Waiting for Happiness are more fully developed than those in "Dreams of Dust", and the existence of a plot makes me wish that if the characters are not going to be more fully developed, that I could at least get be treated to an interesting plot. For me, I wish that the film would have gone one way or the other, traditional plot of vignettes about the ensemble cast. Also, for me, a film must have memorable moments, and while there is some fine cinematography here, aside from the opening sequence of wind driven dust, there are not many magical moments in the film. One might say that the last scene was magical, but for me, it was too confusing, at least upon this initial viewing, for me to consider the final scene satisfying. 4/8

Dreams of dust is a wonderful film whose title has metaphoric richness. The title is apt as throughout the entire film we witness a ruthless, sensible struggle carried out by poor,hapless people in order to gain prosperity which would enable them to escape from the clutches of poverty.This film is set in Africa and makes a highly effective use of African landscape especially in the scenes where nature comes face to face with human beings.It is for this reasons that scenes involving dust and mines have been shot with great care,insight,maturity and wisdom.In his first film,French director Laurent Salgues has worked hard to give a heart and a soul to the image of Africa.The proof of his genius is evident in the manner he has highlighted the plight of poor African miners who are unable to possess gold for themselves even though there are numerous occasions when they get a chance to own the lucrative yellow metal.Africa has been shown in all its vivid details which enables viewers to establish a sensitive parallel between gold and dust.

I was able to see this film at the Sundance Film Festival, where the director afterward made poignant commentary on the film, his first work. The movie is set in northern Burkina Faso, where a man from neighboring Niger unexpectedly shows up to work long, hard hours in a gold mine for basically nothing. He has evidently experienced some tragedy in the past, which often haunts him as he goes about his daily tasks. The film explores the man's ability to cope with past mistakes while ensuring a better future for those around him.The film itself is beautifully filmed on location, mostly with Burkinabe or other west Africans. The film does a good job of capturing the misery that is most Burkinabe's lives. The director wanted to send the message that Burkina Faso, like many African nations, has the opportunity to be wealthy, but has problems with foreign intervention and greed, and local corruption. This theme is heavy throughout the movie. However, the film does run a bit slow, with many instances of scenes where nothing is going on for several minutes. If you are an artsy, foreign film lover, than you will probably like this film. If not, it is unlikely that it will capture your attention.