Omar Sy, hero of a film on Senegalese riflemen during the First World War, is surprised in The Parisian that the French feel more affected by the war in Ukraine than by other more distant conflicts.
The film Skirmishers hits theaters this Wednesday, January 4, addressing a little-known aspect of the First World War, the participation of Senegalese skirmishers in the conflict. Omar Sy plays a father enlisted in the French army in 1917, to join his 17-year-old son, recruited by force.
In an interview at Parisianpublished this Sunday, the actor evokes the fate of these Senegalese skirmishers, of which he knew nothing before meeting the director Mathieu Vadepied, ten years ago, on the set ofUntouchables.
“These stories will come out from under the carpet”
Happy that the film ‘Tirailleurs’ “appeases” and goes “towards reconciliation”, the actor who now lives in the United States believes that today things are finally moving. “These stories will come out from under the rug.”
“We must accept the story of others. One story does not contradict the other, does not cancel it, does not deny it. It is the addition of all these stories that makes our common history”.
It is estimated that the 180,000 Senegalese infantrymen engaged in the war of 14-18, 30,000 were killed.
“It is humanity that is sinking”
Asked about a closer war, the one ravaging Ukraine, Omar Sy is surprised that people feel more affected by this conflict than by those taking place in Africa.
“I’m surprised that people are so affected. Does that mean that when it’s in Africa you are less affected?”
“Me, I feel threatened in the same way when it is in Iran, or in Ukraine”, he assures. “A war is humanity sinking, even when it’s on the other side of the world,” he says.
“When it’s far away, we say to ourselves that ‘over there, they are savages, we don’t do that anymore’. Like the Covid, at the start, we said: ‘it’s only the Chinese'” .
“We remember that the man is capable of invading, of attacking civilians, children. We have the impression that we have to wait for Ukraine to realize this,” he adds.
