4 Star

Life Through a Cracked Lens.

First time writer, director, producer and Actor Jan Philipp Weyl tells a tale based on true events, about the aspirations of two boys from rural Ethiopia to the biggest village in the world, Addis Ababa. We are taken from the beautiful vistas of the Erer Valley to the slums of a city, that doesn’t care for street dogs.

Abdi Getachew (Ferhane Beker) and Solomon Tefera (Alamudin Abduselam) play stones in the brilliant sunshine of Ganda Abdi Ethiopia, nestled among the giant trees and thickets of cacti. Their life changes when a Land Rover pulls up and a man (Tino) gets out and starts taking photos, this fascinates Solomon. They follow him, and he lets Solomon take a photo of the local teachers. Solomon is hooked on photography, while Abdi is hooked on running. Tino arranges to take the boys to Addis Ababa for a sightseeing tour.

Their eyes are opened as they see the largest village in the world. They also get to see the legend Haile Gebreselassie winning the Berlin Marathon, which inspires Abdi to start running and training with a large crowd of people, as Solomon takes photos. Soon they are back home and Tino tells Solomon that he has a job as a photographer and gives them each a photo of themselves.

The runner is mad for no reason, and this is really sad.

One year later and we see that Solomon is now an orphan, and Abdi’s family take him in.

He is your brother now.

Whilst taking photos of the local teachers with Tino, he says that Solomon should do his job, Solomon takes this to heart. Solomon tells Abdi that he is going to Addis Ababa to ‘do his job’ as a photographer, he runs off with Tino’s camera, leaving Abdi to his running, which he is really good at.

In the big city, Solomon is lost, sleeping in disused pipes and scrounging for food, until he is taken in by a group of street dogs, Joker (Sintayehu Geremew), Kiflom (Joseph Reta Belay), Fikir (Yemariam Melkamu) and the only girl in the group Genet (Samrawit Desalegn). This group do anything to get food, taking on menial tasks and Kiflom will steal which is against the group rules but Kiflom is a law unto himself.

Suddenly it is years later and Solomon (Mikias Wolde) is living with Genet, and they have a young girl. Genet works at a bar in town while Solomon and Kiflom collect garbage from the homes of the better off.

I don’t want to steal or beg any more… I pulled you out of the Mud, Genet, Fikir, You.

While Solomon collects garbage and carries on taking photos with his cracked lens, Abdi (Ashenafi Nigusu) is being noticed as a runner back in Ganda Abdi by Ethiopian athletics head coach Negussie Mariam (Genene Alemu, Difret) who takes him to the Olympic training centre in Addis Ababa.

The two brothers are now in the same city, can Abdi finally find his brother and can their lives combine, as one is living in poverty and the other has the chance to represent his country at the greatest sporting event on the planet?

Jan Philipp Weyl took on his first film, and what an ambitious project it is, as most of the actors are in their first film with no experience, just as the director. Running Against the Wind should be a must-watch film, as you are unlikely to ever see anything like this again.

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