The Snows of Kilimanjaro

The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a 2011 French drama film directed by Robert Guédiguian. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. It won the audience award and the Silver Spike at the Valladolid International Film Festival. Plot Michel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), lives happily with Marie-Claire (Ariane Ascaride), his wife of nearly 30 years. A dedicated shop steward for CGT (General Confederation of Labour), he is charged with calling out the names in a draw in the shipyard to select who will be the 20 workers which it has been agreed will be made redundant. Though he did not need to place his own name in the draw, he did so and it is drawn, and so he becomes one of the two losing their jobs. His fellow workers and his family organize a party for his 30th wedding anniversary and present he and his wife with travel money and a ticket to Tanzania so they can climb Mount Kilimanjaro, singing the 1960s hit song "Kilimandjaro". Raoul (Gérard Meylan), Michel's brother-in-law, workmate and fellow trade union official presents him with a treasured but long-lost comic book from Michel's childhood, which Raoul says he found in a secondhand bookshop. Before they leave for their holiday, Michel and Marie-Claire are playing cards at home with Raoul and Raoul's wife, Denise (Marilyne Canto) and are brutally robbed by two men of the comic book and other possessions. Michel is injured while Denise becomes seriously disturbed from the trauma.