The Absurdity of the Death Penalty, Somali director Mo Harawe at the Berlinale 2022

Somali director Mo Harawe presented 'Will My Parents Like To See Me' at the 2022 Berlinale. © Helen Pecina

Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow

9 mins

It was the only one of six films by African directors in the running for the Golden Bear… short films.

" 

 ", directed by Mo Harawe and filmed in Somalia on the issue of the death penalty, had its world premiere at the Berlinale 2022. A look back at the African presence in one of the greatest film festivals in the world which ends this Sunday, February 20 in the German capital.

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Mo Harawe is a happy man, delighted by the applause of the public after the screening of his short film at Cubix-Alexanderplatz in Berlin.

He shot his film in Somali, the official language of Somalia, but he gives us the interview in German, with an Austrian accent.

The course of his life is naturally reflected in his way of expressing himself, therefore also in his films, as evidenced by the list of countries of production of his acclaimed film,

(Austria, Germany , Somalia).

Born in 1992, in Mogadishu, Mo Harawe fled Somalia to take refuge in Austria in 2009 where he began his film career with several award-winning short films at festivals, such as 

(2018) or

(2020).

Today, he continues his studies at the University of the Arts in Kassel, Germany.

With the five other African directors selected for the Berlinale, he shares the fact that his film is deeply attached to his country of origin, deals with a serious subject, features Africans and seeks a kind of independence from Western narratives. .

African films at the Berlinale 2022

" 

 ," says Carlo Chatrian, the artistic director of the Berlin International Film Festival, looking at the number of more productions hosted in 2022. No feature film from Africa in official competition, but the presence of several countries from the black continent, whose 

.

»

In

, “ 

 ” presented in the Encounters section, Rwandan Kivu Ruhorahoza, 39, questioned the heavy consequences of absent fatherhood after the genocide in Rwanda.

In

(United States, DRC), presented in the Forum Expanded section, the Congolese director Petna Ndaliko Katondolo, born in 1974 in Goma, invites us to reflect in the company of two young Congolese directors, Bernadette Vivuya and Kagoma Twahirgwa, on the of colonial imagery and on the crucial issue for Africans to create and disseminate their own images.

As for Ike Nnaebue, a major figure in Nollywood cinema, he relived his own journey undertaken 26 years ago to reach Europe, through the experiences of young migrants today crossing the same countries as him at the time, but on much more dangerous roads, from Nigeria to Morocco, from Lagos to Tangier.

(“No Looking Back”) (Nigeria, South Africa, France, Germany), presented in the Panorama section, won a special mention as Best Documentary Film at the Berlinale.

Rafiki Fariala, 24, succeeded with

, both a dive into the Bangui university campus and an exploration of Central African daily life, without forgetting that it is the first Central African film selected at the Berlinale.

In her feature debut,

, South Sudanese director Akuol de Mabior, daughter of South Sudan's independence hero and the country's current vice-president, seeks to approach and history of his country and his family.

Where Mo Harare stands out with

is that he sets the story of his drama in his country of origin, but he treats it as a subject of universal importance.

Everyone will understand that the absurdity of the execution of the death penalty staged by Mo Harawe in his film would be the same in the United States, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia or in any other country where the death penalty remains in force.

Maintenance.

"Will My Parents Come To See Me", by Somali director Mo Harawe.

© Mo Harawe / sixpackfilm

RFI

Mo Harawe

He is a fictional character, but representative of many other death row inmates, including many young people.

I concentrated different stories into a single character.

Why is the death penalty a subject that interests you

This theme was always present in one way or another during my childhood.

I have always heard of it.

With hindsight, I would say that it always weighed on me indirectly, without my knowing it.

That's why I wanted to do something about it.

Maybe it's a kind of therapy for me.

The title

is the death row inmate's last wish, the last question.

With this film, did you want to realize this wish or the wish of a convict

Not necessarily.

It's just a hopeless moment, because it's not so easy for parents either.

This can also be seen in this desperate situation within the Somali system.

I wanted to ask the question: who has or who should have the responsibility: the state, parents, society?

The execution of the death sentence follows a meticulous protocol.

What we are following here, step by step, on the big screen, as spectators, is it typical of the situation in Somalia

The death penalty exists in many other countries.

But I wanted to show it through Somalia.

When we follow the preparation and execution of this death sentence in your film, we often have the impression of attending a play, because everything is staged in a very precise and effective way.

A real drama.

Is that how you staged this story

Yeah, I staged it that way because I didn't just want to tell a story arc, but give viewers space to make their own judgements, feel things, and have their own point of view. view.

I didn't want them to just watch and move on.

In the film, they are forced to really look and unconsciously immerse themselves in this universe.

That was the idea behind this staging and the long sequence shots... The spectator must watch the film actively and not passively.

The prison cell, the convict's last meal in the dining room, the place of execution, these are very impressive places.

Where did you shoot this film

In Somalia.

The filming locations are authentic, with the exception of the prison cell that we built ourselves for technical filming reasons.

Everything else was actual locations in northeastern Somalia.

A death row inmate is one of the few people who know exactly when they are going to die.

This is a programmed moment that lies between life and death.

What interested you the most

Everything that happens between now and then interests me.

He remains curious, because he has not yet understood that he is going to die.

He realizes it only a few meters from the execution pole - and it is also the case in reality.

Convicts only realize the death penalty when they are on the spot, that is to say where they will be shot or hanged.

The fact that he is then shot also leads to a situation where it becomes clear that, even if the protocol is there, even if everything happens "legally", all of this is not "normal".

How do you show this abnormality

Everything is contradictory.

Everything the characters in the film do is contradictory.

I hope this will come across clearly in the film.

You just have to look consciously to see that this is not normal.

That's what we tried to do with the camera: look consciously. 

Why does a death row inmate receive a good meal and a sleeping pill to sleep well before being executed

Yes, it is absurd.

But the principle of the death penalty is that the harm you have done is compensated by death.

The whole process surrounding it shows the absurdity of the thing.

If you are sick or die normally, you are considered not to have paid this debt.

The film shows how absurd this logic is.

The debt is only paid if you are executed in good health.

You were born in Somalia and arrived in Austria twelve years ago.

Today you are studying in Germany at the University of the Arts in Kassel.

Have we seen today a film by a Somali filmmaker, a Somali film

It always depends on the subject I'm working on.

In this case, because this theme has always been present for me since my childhood, I would say that today it was the film of a Somali filmmaker.

For another subject, which would take place in Austria, it would be different.

But this is the film of a Somali filmmaker.

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