Ousmane Sembene is considered by many to be the father of African cinema. A political activist, author, and filmmaker, the Senegalese Sembene made it his life's mission to tell distinct African stories without white European influence (Senegal was once a French occupied territory). He made his feature debut in 1966 with the brilliant and stirring Black Girl. Featuring a moving central performance by M'Bissine Therese Diop, Black Girl is a harrowing human drama as well as a radical political statement — and one of the essential films of the 1960s.
Black Girl tells the story of a young Senegalese woman named Diouana (Mbissine Therese Diop) who travels to France to work as a servant to a white French couple (Robert Fontaine, Anne-Marie Jelinek). At first, Diouana takes her trip with optimism, thinking that her primary duties would be taking care of the couple's children. That optimism quickly turns to despair as Diouana is immediately put to work, cooking and cleaning and doing everything the couple orders her to do. She's treated more like a slave than a person, never allowed to travel around France and subjected to constant verbal abuse by Madame (Jelinek) while Monsieur (Fontaine) barely even notices her. She fantasizes about her home country before she left, even the possibility of a romance. But her desperation for money snaps her back to reality. Things start to fall apart when Diouana is the subject of racism by the couple's dinner guests. As the tension mounts and Diouana's insubordination escalates, the narrative takes a tragic and shocking turn that may be disturbing, but sadly isn't surprising.
Читать дальше...
Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий