Father & Soldier (French: Tirailleurs) is a 2023 French-Senegalese drama film directed by Mathieu Vadepied, starring Omar Sy (also credited as one of the producers).
Bakary Diallo and his son Thierno are farmers who live in the French colony of Senegal as World War I happens. In 1917, Thierno is drafted by the French military. Bakary also joins the army in order to help him escape, but that fails and they end up fighting in North-Eastern France as part of a colonial force called the senegalese tirailleurs
note .
Most of the film’s dialogue is in Fula, a native language of Western Africa.
Not to be confused with Father of a Soldier.
This film provides examples of:
- Blatant Lies: Bakary Diallo claims to be 30note in order to join the army. The recruiter seems happy to believe that.
- Language Barrier: Bakary only speaks a Fula language (called Peul in the French subs) which is only spoken by a few people in the army. Thierno also speaks French.
- Starts with Their Funeral: The film starts in 1920, as white soldiers dig some dirt and find an unknown soldier's bones.
- War Is Hell: Conscription in the early film is quite brutal and an obvious consequence of colonisation. Zig Zagged as Thierno seems to later enjoy fighting.
- War Memorial: The film ends with a view of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in Paris. Said unknown soldier's body is suggested to be Bakary Diallo's (and therefore from Africa).
