Macadam Tribu is vivid and well-acted drama about suburban life on the outskirts of an effervescent African city. Mike likes girls, Kapa likes boxing. The brothers work in a garage and hang around on the street, in bars and boxing clubs. Their mother has drunk too much ever since she was widowed. Mike is just out of jail where he was thrown for having an affair with the wife of a power-crazy cop. Duka decides to don his boxing gloves again. The whole neighbourhood is behind him but his fight ends badly. With the aid of an infectious soundtrack, this film oozes sympathy for the various characters, making the issues tackled – from alcoholism and AIDS to post-colonial problems and police violence – even more distressing, but not hopeless.
