The film is a drama that tells the story of a Senegalese father and son thrown into the hell of the trenches during the First World War. Like hundreds of thousands of Africans, young Thierno (Alassane Diong) was captured in his village in 1917 to serve alongside the French. His father (Omar Sy) enlists to watch over him. Guest in duplex of the 1 p.m. news on France 2, Omar Sy answered questions from Julian Bugier. “That’s all I got this story. It’s the common history between these two countries, Senegal and France, that’s all I am (…) The film is entirely in the Fulani language, it’s the language I speak home, it is the language of my parents who raised me with this language“, he recounted.
After the screening, the film by Omar Sy – which can also be found at the moment in far from the ring road on Netflix and soon in the sequel to Lupine – received a very good reception. Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, confided that Skirmishers had arrived “quite late in selection“. He adds : “There are movies like that that become a no-brainer.“