Mati Diop’s film Atlantics

The Movie Review of Atlantics
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In Mati Diop’s film Atlantics (Atlantique) Ada a 17-year-old in Dakar, Senegal is in love with Souleiman a young construction worker, but her family betrothed to Omar much older man (Diop et al., 2020). The director uses different modes of cinematic narrative. Souleiman and his co-workers stay long without being paid and they decide to make a journey to Europe, and he is part of the lost generation who risk everything to immigrate to Europe. In the art of telling visual stories, there are different and the language is used to express thoughts and feelings and explore the lives of two lovers and how the immediate environment affects their lives. In the film, there are multiple dimensions in a story that is a modern variation on love story, a story on economic migrants and belief in the supernatural.
Diop divides the film into different parts focusing on the times. The audience is first introduced to Souleiman the young protagonist and his fellow workers on a coastal building site where they rally against their employer who has not paid them for months. However, the strike is successful as they still do not get their wages, and the abandon the construction project which was supposed to be futuristic-style tower building. There are modern buildings in Dakar along the Senegalese coast, but many casual laborers in the city get low wages below the livable wages and suffer exploitation. The filmmaker reconstructs the life of the poor working class in Senegal through Souleiman’s experience. The people are desperate to improve their economic-wellbeing even if this forces them to take dangerous journeys. The gap between the rich and the poor is wide and increases the risk of social unrest problems. Thus, if there are more people like Souleiman and his colleagues willing to agitate for change and not moving away.
The first half of the story is set in Dakar and when Souleiman and his colleagues Senegal for Europe, it is as though they leave their ghosts behind. African cinema tends to tell stories that emphasize social relations and people’s way of life and Atlantics goes further and integrates supernatural and magical elements (Diop et al., 2020).The day Ada sneaks out of her parent’s house to go and meet Souleiman in a bar she does not find him (Diop, 2020). Souleiman had left without her and it is as if he “ghosted” her. Diop focuses on a story where there is high inequality in Dakar and young men’s willingness to immigrate to Europe illegally and a love story with supernatural elements, legends, and inspiration.
Ada’s arranged marriage with a man she does not love places her in a difficult position as Souleiman true love is on the other side of the Atlantic. Yet, Ada’s family expects she stays in the arranged marriage (Diop et al., 2020). Diop highlights the uncertain situation that the poor in Senegal face and this influences them to go through the sea, on rafts and dinghies, and head towards Spain where they believed offered better opportunities. After this Diop integrates supernatural elements where there is the impossible love story between Souleiman and Ada, but Ada’s family is more focused on im...