Beautifully shot and acted. At times ethereal and enigmatic. Always interesting and engaging. Would highly recommend

I would like to try and interpret the meaning of an important element of the story; I have not found it explained in the critics' reviews that I have read (I have not read all). There will necessarily be spoilers in my review. I am going to focus on the characters of Ada, Souleimani, and Issa. In the movie characters appear with whitened pupil and iris. First it is only a group of women, then also this happens also to detective Issa. The phenomenon seems to be reversible, i.e., it is for Issa. The movie does not explain explicitly what this entails. My interpretation is that whitened eyes correspond to a situation where these living persons are visited by the souls of the dead youngsters, who flee by boat at the beginning of the movie, and then die in a shipwreck. The group of women subjected to this event are the girl friends and partners of the dead men; in fact the women with whitened eyes try and get money for their dead partners from the building contractors, who had not paid them. Then also Issa experiences the same phenomenon, which is preceded by strong physical distress, and happens for the first time after a confrontation with Ada, whom he is suspecting for arson. My interpretation is that Issa is visited by Souleimani's soul. The reason is that Issa is actually falling in love for Ada, and Souleimani find in Issa a companion soul. This is evident towards the end, when finally Issa and Ada first hug, then kiss, then make love. During the first phase of the unveiling of their tentative love, they hug and kiss in a room with a mirror, where we see in real life Ada and Issa hugging, who are reflected in the mirror by Ada and Souleimani hugging; I believe that this represents the transition from Ada's past life, which is not possible any more because Souleimani is dead, to the new one, where she and Issa fall in love with each other. The arc of the movie goes from when Ada is promised to Omar, whom she despises, but loves Souleimani, to when Ada has succeded in getting rid of Omar (indirectly thanks to Souleimani's death) and is ready to start a new independent life, possibly with Issa (though the movie does not have an obvious happy end).

Incredibly boring. Kept waiting for something interesting to happen; I'm sorry I waited. What a waste.

Subtitles? Why isn't this mentioned in the review? Wasted our time.

It simply was not good. So sorry that I watched all of it.

One of the worst films I've ever seen.

If you're having trouble sleeping, try this movie.

Great film. Ada's character tells a brilliant tale of the power of being true to oneself. Love may have been her motivation but in the end it was not only her love for Suleiman that made her turn her back on a life she did not want, as easy sit may have been. The motivation propelling her forward as well as the whole film was one of truth, love and justice. And Ada embodied this so well, showing us that it was not just Suleiman but also her love for herself. This force moved the plot along, holding the film with such gentle conviction and fierce poetic justice and I couldn't help but feel like I learnt a whole lot about life (and art) in one single sitting.

Odd https://uberscaryblog.blogspot.com/2022/11/he-doesnt-even-know-how-to-dig.html

Awesome! What is happending in real world, people trying to get a better chance to survive and in the middle obvisouly a love story but the end is very different. I ike a lot.

Such an amazing movie. This movie is just beautiful, makes amazing job with cinematography that builds up the whole movie to a very powerful ending. The director somehow managed to mix a love story, a tragedy, supernatural believes, poverty, hope and many more things, it's just amazing that 1 movie could touch on all of these things and be flawless

A slow start but then once one got used to the utter lack of exposition, one realized it was mild horror.

Very nicely photographed, blend of social and supernatural , with excellent performances by talented actors. A must see film!

Very slow and boring. A complete waste of my time.

This movie is slow and boring, and actually looks like a parody of an arthouse movie at times, with long uninterrupted shots of nothing happening, just waves or people sitting.

There was some nice (but not amazing) cinematography. If you love long shots of waves crashing, and people walking, or looking depressed, or pensive, or any other really bland emotions then this film is for you! Personally though I would have preferred more exposition and/or character development. Perhaps that would have been a better way to turn a 45 minute short into a 107 minute feature. But what do I know? The critics love it.

A brilliant debut by Mati Diop depicting the everyday life in Dakar with all its difficulties and beauty. Diop masterfully balances between realistic narration and traditional influences combining a detective story with a mystical storyline. Film is stunningly beautiful, skilfully joggling the colours and day-night perspectives. A fresh and captivating kind of cinema.

Addresses a lot in a quiet, thoughtful, understated way.

Diferente, inesperado, con una trama cautivante a pesar de lo lento que a veces se pone, pero no aburrido. Muy buena

The film is so dragging and is a waste of an hour and 40 mins. Story could have been edited down to 30mins or less. I don't understand how this movie got such a high rating Don't watch!