MY STRUGGLES, AND NAJEEB'S

Haiti-born Jimmy Jean-Louis on making his Indian debut in the film, The Goat Life

- JOSE K. GEORGE

The Goat Life is a story of resilience and of the indomitable human spirit in the face of extreme adversities as the character of Najeeb (Prithviraj Sukumaran) defies death and desert to escape to freedom. Actor-producer Jimmy Jean-Louis plays Ibrahim Khadiri in the movie, who, according to him, is a "godsend kind of character, like an angel, like a Moses who comes from nowhere" to help and guide Najeeb in his arduous journey through the desert to freedom. He describes the film as a "very intense and lonely movie" as the protagonist is fighting extreme adversities—"the climate, the sand storm, the animals, the hunger and thirst". "Every time you think that he is on top of the hill, there is another hill and another hill...," he tells THE WEEK.

Haiti-born Jean-Louis, too, is no stranger to struggles. He came to Paris with his parents as a young boy in the hope of finding a better life, but had to hustle hard before finding success in Hollywood. There were times when he was a homeless squatter as no doors were opening for him. He travelled halfway across the world in search of work—he did musical theatre in Spain, and modelling in Italy, South Africa and England, before moving to the US. He switched from modelling to short movies, documentaries, and indie movies, before getting better gigs in Hollywood.