Samba

Samba (2014) is a French dramedy you can watch online on iFILM, from Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, the directing pair behind The Intouchables. Omar Sy plays Samba, a Senegalese man who has spent ten years in Paris drifting through odd jobs until he lands in a detention center for migrants.

All Samba wants is working papers and a steady spot in a restaurant kitchen. His case lands with Alice, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, a former executive recovering from burnout who now volunteers to put herself back together. Two people from opposite worlds end up leaning on each other. Tahar Rahim shows up as Wilson, a charming hustler who passes himself off as Brazilian and thinks he has the whole game figured out.

Toledano and Nakache refuse to turn immigration into a lecture. Laughter sits right next to heartbreak, and the city looks different through the eyes of people most films ignore. It is a light but honest story about how the ones with almost nothing have the most to lose. Stream Samba (2014) online on iFILM.