Mauritania, a country in Africa, had to struggle for years to gain its independence. And for those people who never knew that there are filmmakers in Mauritania, this film will be a pleasant surprise. Waiting for Happiness is a new film by Abderrahmane Sissako, the director of Life on Earth (1999). The seashore village of Heremakono, located at the end of the desert, doesn’t even have electricity. To this village comes a young man, Abdallah, in search of his mother. But he must first learn the local language and rediscover his own culture--in other words, he is no different than a complete stranger. The life of the people as portrayed by the camera is how Abdallah views his home village. In this film with its graceful sense of color, visuals are more important than language, and whereas the lives of the people are shot as if in a documentary, the film is nevertheless filled with symbolic imageries of wind, grass, light, and electricity. Abdallah leaves the town, leaving behind a picture resembling something drawn by the painter Courbet. Through the portrayal of the villagers, the film depicts the clash between traditional values and western culture, and the struggle between globalization and alienation. The director’s ability to tell a serious tale without losing a sense of humor is exemplary. (Yi Myung-hee)