Mandabi [Criterion Collection]

"An out of work man from Senegal receives a money order from his nephew, a street cleaner working in Paris. He battles bureaucratic red tape when he tries to cash the check to pay off small loans from his friends and associates. The simplicity of the old ways is obliterated by the attempts at modernization and progress. The man constantly finds himself victimized by a system he cannot understand or control. The story unfolds as a folk tale and finds the man victimized by his lack of a birth certificate and photographs to prove his identity. He fails to understand why he must have proof of his existence as he stands before the bureaucrats in frustration."