00:00 In northern Benin, each year from October to January, the cotton harvest punctuates the life of the inhabitants.
02:15 Hundreds of drivers load the cotton and attempt the 600 km journey on damaged roads to export the goods and take advantage of this white gold which represents nearly 40% of Benin's exports to rich countries.

In Benin, a poor country on the African continent, the cultivation of cotton dramatically impoverishes the soils of the countryside, because the immaculate flower requires astronomical quantities of water to grow. Water which Benin sorely lacks.
12:00 In the fields, everyone participates in the harvest
15:05 Cotton has become one of Benin's main resources
16:00 But in some fields, workers go on strike because of lack of water
19:30 Because of the long journeys to the swamp, the women find it difficult to find time to prepare food

21:55 When they are late, drivers can hardly take breaks.
26:15 Accidents threaten passengers, goods, but also other travellers.
29:21 Prisoners of their poverty, these families reduce the stone to gravel to pay for food
31:28 In Benin, the practice of the voodoo religion is very common.
34:40 Launched at full speed, the drivers are very dangerous for pedestrians and twowheelers.
39:39 Arriving at the factory late, drivers still have to wait for their shipments to be accepted by the factory
41:43 Due to accidents, breakdowns and traffic jams, drivers often arrive late, thus reducing their salary
45:51 In this difficult context, Zachari and Dramane fight to survive. Even if the meager wages force the drivers to live off small businesses, they are not the most to be pitied, unlike those they meet on the road: the farmers and their children who work only to survive, the women who break stones under the scorching sun or the dockers who are paid twenty cents to carry a 200 kilo bale of cotton.

Director: Philippe Lafaix