After an opening flash-forward, we follow 13-year-old Ady (Diarra) causing a small ruckus in his French banlieue, leaving his desperate dad with few options but to ship him out of town. Arriving in Burkina Faso to stay in the remote village of his authoritarian uncle Amadou (Hamadoun Kassougue), Ady believes he’s only visiting for a week, but soon learns that he’s stuck on permanent vacation until he reimburses money he stole from his father.Like most kids his age, all Ady cares about is his telephone, his Beats by Dre-style headphones and whatever music (in this case, French rap) he’s into at the moment. But those creature comforts can only take him so far in a place with limited electricity and means of communication, especially after his uncle confiscates his passport and Ady is forced to live the hard knock life that everyone in his Burkinabe family is already used to.Working from a script by David Bouchet, Golblat — who’s of Swiss-Burkinabe origin and has a background in documentaries — initially shows Ady reacting with an expected mix of rebellion and disbelief to his sudden change of living conditions. But the kid gradually opens up to a new world and a new way of being, with his cousin, Jean (Ibrhaim Koma, who starred in the Malian crime film Wulu) and his grandmother, Mame (Josephine Kabore), showing him more love and affection than he ever seemed to get back home in Franc

Source: ‘Wallay’ review | Hollywood Reporter