Ousmane Sembene (director)
BFI Film (studio)
Cert 15 (certificate)
80min total (length)
19 October 2015 (released)
09 November 2015
As part of the on-going and widely acclaimed ‘World Cinema’ series, the BFI have released a rarity indeed – in this case two films (in Dual Format) by Senegalese director Ousmane Sembéne, considered by many as the father of African cinema.
The first film, BLACK GIRL (1966), is set both in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and Marseille in France. The story – adapted from Sembéne’s novella of the same title - centres around young Diouana (Thérése M’Bisine Diop), an attractive young maid who is temporarily employed by a white family as a nanny. Later on, the family move back to France. When they ask Diouana whether she would like to follow to keeper her employment, the young woman is thrilled and starts dreaming of a much better life… of luxurious shops in France and fancy dresses and shoes which see has seen in fashion magazine like Elle of Vogue, and which she plans on buying from her first wages. Despite being romantically involved with a young man (Momar Na Sene) in Dakar, Diouana packs her meagre belongings and crosses the sea on an ocean liner. Once she’s arrived on French shore, her employer (Robert Fontaine) picks her up in his car and they drive to her new ‘home’ where Madam (Anne-Marie Jelinek) and the children greet her, and she is shown her own little room.
However, it’s not before long when Diouana’s dreams and hopes are dashed: rather then playing the children’s nanny which she was back in Dakar where she went out with them every day here in Marseille she is merely treated as a maid, expected to clean, to cook, and attend to Madame’s every whim. Unable to communicate in French language, Diouana grows more frustrated and disillusioned every day – wondering when she gets the chance to explore the nice shops and promenades of her new hometown, and meeting new people. But the horizon doesn’t seem to expand beyond the apartment of her employers. Out of anger over her treatment, she refuses to do any more work in the hope that the family will realise that initially she has been employed as a nanny and not as a servant. Throughout, her thoughts are told via voiceover narration. She also wears the one or two nice dresses which she brought along plus a worn-out pair of stilettos around the house (since she has nowhere else to go), for which she is constantly told off. As expected, Madame calls her bone-idle lazy and shows no understanding towards the feelings and frustrations of Diouana who feels more and more like an outcast. When a letter from her mother arrives, accusing her of neglecting to send much-needed money back home while no doubt she indulges in spending her wages on fancy items Diouana can take no more. She removes a tribal mask from the living room wall (a present to her employers) and packs her suitcase, including a photo of herself and her lover back in Dakar. When Monsieur pays her the wages, she proudly hands it back. Despite her suitcase being packed Diouana does not leave, however. In an unexpected and shocking ending (based on a true event in the French town of Nice in 1958), she seemingly and calmly takes a bath, only to slit her throat with a razor! Following the incident, the white family move back to Dakar where Monsieur attempts to hand over Diouana’s belongings and her wages to her impoverished mother… who also is too proud (and too angry) to accept anything from the white man.
Shot in b/w and using flashback technique, BLACK GIRL offers interesting glimpses of Dakar in the mid-60’s and the barriers caused by race, gender and class.
The second film, BOROM SARRET is not only a b/w short with its 20min running time, it is also the debut of Sembéne the filmmaker. The story is simple enough, but the way it is filmed (part fiction, part documentary) provides a fascinating insight into the frenetic street life of 60’s Dakar, where carts roll alongside cars, where new and intimidating tower block buildings overshadow traditional huts and ramshackle aluminium barracks. This is the world of an impoverished cart driver (Ly Abdoulaye) and his horse Albourah. Every morning Ly leaves his family to try and earn a meagre living from carting various passengers about the busy streets, be it a quarrelsome granny or a pregnant wife and her husband who need to be rushed to a nearby hospital. Once again, Ly’s thoughts are revealed through us via voiceover narration and we hear him cursing the ‘blessings of civilisation’ like traffic lights that order you to stop and to move when the colour of the light commands it, something that stands in utter contrast to the freedom of movement the once proud Senegalese warrior tribes could enjoy. After a hard day’s work and ever more frustrations in the newly urbanised and westernized Dakar, Ly has an unfortunate run-in with the law who confiscate his horse, after having lost his daily wages. Without his horse, Ly can no longer work and heads back to the family. In the last scene, his wife hands him the baby and makes her exit, claiming not to worry as “she will be earning some money tonight” but not revealing to Ly what she is up to.
There are some interesting Special Features to be found as well, like an interview with director Sembéne who reveals that he had always been fascinated by early silent cinema and also the genius of Charlie Chaplin.