Waiting for Barcelona

Nothing is there.

Sometimes like this places,

they put some balsas down here so I can pick it.

Not only the trash cans.

Everywhere you can find.

My name is, uh, Mou.

See this.

I've been here almost ten years now.

I already get married, you know.

I already get married.

So I'm going to do this little time only, you know.

When I got my papers, I start to look other things.

Then I will go with my music.

I want to have daughters, I want to have my wife.

I want to have house.

But I am waiting for my papers so I just try.

Okay, I am ready.

- How are you, my friend? - Good.

- Very hard, ain't it? - Yes, of course.

- I don't have any cigarettes. - Don't worry.

- Thanks. - Thank you.

Wow, I love this.

This one is a soldier boy. I am soldier.

Soldier of life. Soldier peace. I'm a soldier of peace, man.

So this one, I am very glad to find it.

When I was going out of Gambia, I was 14 or 13, like that.

When you came here, not looking for money only.

You look for ways. You know?

DON'T BUY FROM BLANKET SALESMEN THIS IS PUNISHABLE WITH A 500 FINE

Well, I guess we have to...

The police is working... and we have to...

For example, that man in the park is a plainclothes police officer.

There are more of them there.

I just let my colleagues know there's policemen here.

Muhamete!

Psst!

I will give this to my colleague, okay?

- - Go on, Boom. Go on my brother, go on.

Go on. Go on, you, rap.

- Yeah. - Here we are.

IMMIGRANT AREA

This is where we live, you know. This is my place, respect.

- -

Thank you, my friends.

Thank you.

- -

- -

Human slavery!

Hey man, what did you say?

I'm showing all the bad that's going on in here.

Let's see what's the real problem.

- - It's nothing for you.

- - Oh, sorry.

It's good, no? To show them how we live.

Uh, I speak Spanish.

I'm showing them how we survive here picking up scrap metal, nothing else.

- I love it, really. - Thanks, man.

Thank you very much.

Let's go.

This is how we're living here, ain't it so?

I do this every day.

He said it's human slavery.

He's right.

We are the slaves of the people.

He is right. I didn't understand him at first.

I thought he was talking bad about me, but no.

Human slavery is us--

who gather the scrap metal when there are so many things to do.

But then they don't give us any opportunities.

We're just showing you guys what we usually do.

Pfft.

Yeah.

The scrap metal goes with the market.

Prices rise and fall--

Today, copper can be one euro, and tomorrow it is three.

That's how it is, sir.

They come around with the trolleys

and try to make a living out in the streets

while cleaning up Barcelona with their trolleys.

When a truck comes, we load it and sell it to the scrap factories.

There are many types of metals: coppers, leads, brass...

If I go on listing, we'll never finish.

- - Stop filming!

- -

Daily, we receive around eight, ten tons.

When I finish collecting scrap metal...

the door is on the other side.

So I come here, I play basketball with other friends,

or I come alone, doesn't matter.

But this is my first life. Yeah.

Now we are in the ramble.

So I try to cross here.

I'm going to one place. I think I'll have something there.

But I don't promise nothing, because nothing promised me.

I'm doing two things.

I'm also a top manta, a street seller.

When things get really hard because of the police and all,

I take my cart and find my living elsewhere.

They don't let us sell

and the police are stopping it very aggressively.

They treat you like an animal or a criminal.

They want to chase you or hit you.

You get really sick of it.

Are you interested? What are you looking for?

Um...

What do you think about this book? What is this mark?

Nazi mark or what?

You see, that's why... It's okay. No problem.

This is why we can hardly survive. Because of these people.

Uh... Okay.

Now Nazi have no power in Barcelona.

Only me, 15 Nazis, I can handle them all.

I'm joking. But I'm talking about Nazi is not nice.

Nazi doesn't like nobody.

Okay, exactly. Somebody's coming out. Hello.

Excuse me. Thank you.

My love!

I will leave it here until I come back. Nice.

Baby? Are you all right?

Yeah. I'm coming back, okay?

- -

I'm coming.

This is good ball, you know.

I pass already this.

My life is now to have the paper and do the things--

very cool like, waiter or singer or whatever.

When I was here, 17 years old,

I got papers and I lost it.

Don't see me like this... Me, I went to jail.

I went to four years jail.

Because I was a street boy.

It's not the right way.

So still now, I pay all the things I do in my life here.

I do some things but I go and pay,

because I sell some weed before with drug dealers.

Now I live this.

The jails is not for human beings.

The jails is for... is to kill you, is to make you crazy,

is to waste your time, to waste your life.

You know?

When I come out in jail,

I lived in the ghetto for two years.

I go stay that place.

One guy, I give him four beers in the bar.

I tell him to pay me and he's like,

"Yeah, let's go outside and take out money."

We go outside, I tell him, "Can you give me the money?"

And he just held this... And he choked me, you know.

So I have to be very more careful with what I'm doing, you know?

But it's life. It's only life.

But I was almost finished my life there.