As an American, I find it a relief to see other cultures have immigration issues. Not that 100% of the French immigration pic Samba doesn’t precisely reflect our own American immigration issues anyway, but the accents and non-Spanish subtitles allow for a distance. So does the cutesy title, irrelevant to the subject or the dance itself, even in metaphorical form.
After ten years of tough Parisian life, Samba Cissé (Omar Sy) is being deported back to Senegal. I’m not terribly sure this is such a bad thing as when he isn’t being deported, the thirtysomething chef wannabe washes dishes sixty hours a week and shelters in his uncle’s one-room Paris flat. There’s no room in Samba’s life for romance, hobbies or any form of extroverted behavior. That doesn’t stop him, of course. I mean, it’s Paris, whatchagonnado? Hide? As an illegal, he’s told to keep a low profile at all times, deriving what little pleasure he can out of life from wearing his “lucky” t-shirt — a soccer jersey representing a team from home.
Noob caseworker Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) has problems of her own, the primary being she hasn’t a clue how to handle an illegal immigrant. It’s obvious she’s far too old to be new to social work and we ponder what brought her to this punishment. Yes, social work is punishment; take it 
from Samba if you won’t take it from me. And we are told the rules: no phone numbers, no addresses, no contact; keep all the potential deportees at arm’s length. It takes Alice about 20 seconds of alone time to violate the credo. Don’t feel bad; you very nearly held out until you opened your mouth.
Samba doesn’t touch any new ground here — life bites for the illegal. Constant fear of cops. Constant fear for wages. Somewhere in the middle, Samba gets an under-the-table mall cop job which he almost loses for screwing around with mannequins. One of those, “this might be hilarious if Samba weren’t playing around with his own life” things. Seconds later, he’s punching out a would-be thief — I.e. He’s doing his job. The reward? No pay. Once the real cops arrive, Samba needs to have danced into the shadows.
Charlotte, the uncle (Isaka Sawadogo) and his “Brazilian” cohort (Tahar Rahim) all have smiley-face contributions, but nothing you’d remember far past the credits. And, in the end, Samba is yet another sympathetic-but-ultimately-unhelpful plea for immigration reform. Movies like this are important because of their appeal precisely to the only people who need not see them.
For illegals, the tread wears thin
Constantly striving to avoid sin
Struggle and flights
In the City of Lights
Didn’t guess that term meant skin
Rated R, 118 Minutes
D: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
W: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Genre: Importing diversity, exporting hate
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Illegal immigrants
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: French xenophobes
