Nadia and the Hippos

The third feature of former documentarist Dominique Cabrera, who is known for his 1997 feature L'autre coté de la mer, this film exposes the oppressive and stifling aspect of society. Single mother Nadia is surviving on welfare while transport strikes are paralyzing France in December 1995. While watching the news, she recognizes the father of her child among the strikers and decides to go and search for him. But she has nowhere to go. The film, shot almost entirely at night, carries documentary qualities, part of which is due to the appearances of actual railroad workers in several group scenes. Ariane Ascaride is remarkable as the often irritating single mother on welfare who can also elicit sympathy from the audience. 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999.~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide