Talentville Mini-Coverage for The Poor Man's Son

THE POOR MAN'S SON is a sweeping period piece that follows the real-life experiences of Mouloud Feraoun, an Algerian writer living in the middle of the Algerian struggle for independence from French colonialism. Technically, the screenplay is cleanly written and does a good job touching on the thematic struggles of native Algerians against their French colonists. The dialogue moves the story forward and the writing does a good job including a variety of perspectives that provide a pretty holistic depiction of the Algerian struggle for independence.

However, the screenplay as written lacks a central, focused conflict, which ultimately deflates the sense of overall drama. Feraoun is clearly the main character who we are following and experiencing the events with, yet throughout the screenplay it is never entirely clear how exactly he feels about the violence and the two sides in which he is clearly stuck between. Thus, even though there is a clear foundation and thematic thru line that has a lot of inherent drama, added to the fact that the Algerian struggle for independence is a profoundly interesting time in history, this screenplay currently lacks specific concrete details that would make Feraoun's story come to life.