Nyimasita Kanuteh

Africa in Cinema

21 December 2010

FINAL EXAM: AFRICA IN CINEMA (fall 2010)

Please respond to three of the following five questions. Be sure to read the questions carefully, to provide
clear thesis statements/paragraphs, and to answer all aspects of the questions. You should reference at
least two films in each response (you may overlap by only one film).

Reflect on the implication of young people and children in the films we’ve screened this
semester? How do these African filmmakers implicate children in raising issues of generational
tension and in what way do these tensions connect to broader political and socio-cultural
concerns? Consider the relationship between education and development in the francophone
African context.

Negotiating an African identity has been one of the greatest challenges of

African cinema. Some respond by reverting to pre-colonial African traditions and

histories while others ignore those in favor of the Western hegemony dominating

postcolonial Africa. Filmmakers Bassek ba Kobhio and Dani Kouyate respond to this

challenge by attempting to bridge the gap between tradition and modernity in their

films Sango Malo and Keita: Le heritage du griot. Similar to the role if griots in

African societies, African filmmakers take it upon themselves to instruct the African

population through a visual medium instead of an oral one. Kouyate and Khobio,

who clearly subscribe to the old adage “the children are the future”, play out the

tradition vs. modernity conflict in the African Youth, specifically students

emphasizing the role of education in this conflict. In both films, young people are

forced to reconcile their African heritages with their postcolonial presents to

produce a better future.

With the fate of the African future in the hands of the youth, education

becomes an important medium through which to shape the future. In Dani

Kouyate’s film Keita: Le heritage du griot a young boy is trapped between his

western schooling and his traditional “initiation”. Mabo is a young boy raised in a

family that leads a Western lifestyle. The arrival of the family griot, a traditional

African figure, creates the initial tension between tradition and modernity. Djaliba is

firmly rooted in his African past; he eats with his hands and sleeps in a hammock.

Djaliba’s use of the word “initiation” emphasizes the significance of Mabo’s age, he

is no longer a child but on the cusp of adulthood. He is also a student and the

choices he makes now will shape his future. Djaliba’s tales of magic and heritage

contrast sharply with Mabo’s school lessons of math and European history. The

tension between the past and present is amplified when the story begins to distract

Mabo from his schoolwork. Djaliba tells Mabo’s teacher to stop telling him+ that his

ancestors were gorillas emphasizing the importance of instilling Mabo with ancestral

pride. In his statement “I want to go to school but I want to continue the story”

Mabu has directly hit on the issue faces by young African students, negotiating their

African pasts with a present dominated by the west and a legacy of colonialism. It’s

up to him to reconcile the two.

In Sango Malo, another new arrival Mr. Malo , disrupts the town’s status quo.

The schoolmaster is a traditional postcolonial figure who believes the key to African

development is in forming an Africa in the model of Europe. In this vain he

disciplines the children harshly and teaches them math and European history. Mr.

malo abandons the headmasters ways in favor of “a practical education, one

adapted to local conditions”, he teaches the children agriculture. His decisions are

met with enthusiasm by the village but his complete rejection of their traditions and

beliefs ultimately lead to his downfall. In a griot-like manner, Khobio is also

expressing a moral in his story. Change is important but not at the cost of tradition,

again the two must be reconciled.

How and to what extent do the films we’ve seen this semester present the Western world’s
responsibility for, influence on, and relationship to Africa – socially, culturally, and
economically? How do the filmmakers evoke – directly or obliquely – a colonial European
presence? How do they address the question of “blame assignment,” and what if anything do
they propose as more productive (future) means of negotiating African modernity in a global
context?

In following the Teshome Gabirel model of the political imperative of third cinema, the films

Afrique, je te plumerai and Hyenes both deal with the relationship between Africa and the West. In Afrique

Je Te Plumerai, Jean Marie Teno directly confronts the West with the exploitive and destructive nature of

colonial presence in Africa. In contrast, Djibril Diop Mambety uses the story of a small town and its rich

savior as a euphemism for Africa’s dependence on the West. Though both films explicitly hold the West

responsible for its crimes against Africa, they are also critical of Africans themselves. Both movies

function as wake up calls to an African audience that continues to rely on and idolize the West despite its

role in their misfortunes. They encourage Africans to hold on to their histories and ideals and to negotiate

them with modernity instead of sacrificing them to it. They also encourage Africans to Confront and

challenge their realities instead of accepting their realities in ignorance.

Afrique Je Te Plumerai translates to Africa I will Fleece You setting the stage for Teno’s position

on colonial presence in Africa. He establishes that it is not the benevolent overseeing that Europe

attempts to present it as but a mercenary endeavor that is still ongoing today. The genius in Teno’s work

is that he cuts back and forth between documentary scenes from the past and present to deconstruct the

narrative of colonialism in Africa. He directly ties African issues of the present to its colonial past. For

example, the market for books is dominated by imported Western books instead of African publishes

ones. This is a symptom of the continued European presence in Cameroon. Teno does not simply assign

blame to the West but also confronts the African public for its ignorant consumption of all things Western.

There is no market for African publishes books because there is no demand for them. His film functions

as a cautionary tale to Cameroonians if they don’t realize the nature of the relationship between Africa

and the West and their role they play in fostering this relationship.
 Hyenes also serves as a cautionary tale for African people. In this film, Mambety warns of the

“reign of the Hyena” which threatens to engulf the African continent. The reign of the Hyena is a reign in

which people sacrifice their integrity and ideals for material gain similar to the manner in which the hyena,

a scavenger, feeds at the cost of a another living being. The town of Colobane is in decline and in debt,

rejoice at the return of a former resident who has now struck rich. It is later revealed that Ramatou has

actually returned for revenge against the town that did her wrong. She enacts this revenge by promising

the town the money they need to revive their economy but at the cost of a human life. The town resists at

first but eventually succumbs to the temptation of material wealth. The town of Colobane is a microcosm

of postcolonial African societies. Mambety makes symbolic references to continued African dependence

on the West in the form of men wearing rice sacks and bulldozers destroying former pastureland with a

view of a city in sight. Mambety’s parallels the fate of Colobane with the fate of African nations whose

idolization of the West ultimately lead to their downfall. The town of Colobane sacrifices their “ideals” for

money and African nations sacrifice their traditions and pasts in an attempt to love according to Western

standards.

Discuss the manner in which clothing functions in the films as an unambiguous social signifier.
How does the attire of various characters – either present from the outset or changed along the
course of the narrative – serve as a dramatic indicator of (often politicized) personal expression or
moral transformation?

Clothing functions as an unambiguous social signifier in many African films.

One such film is Ousmane Sembene’s Xala. In Xala, Sembene explores class

differences in postcolonial Senegal. In the beginning of the film, a group of African

men, former independence activists, in traditional African clothes oust a group of

European men from their chamber of commerce. This scene represents the promise

of a new Africa under new leadership. The men return wearing European suits

indicating the abandonment of that promise. This lives of this class of wealthy elite

Africans is contrasted with a group of poor beggars who dress the part and other

everyday Africans dressed in everyday work clothes. Sembene portrays the false

hopes of independence that leave a select group of Africans at the top and the rest
in practically the same situation. Rama, who combines Western clothing with

traditional African clothing, represents the fulfillment of independence hopes.

In Keita: Le heritage du griot, Djaliba Kouyate dresses in a traditional African

costume of a shirt and pants set and a hat. He arrives to disrupt the lives of a family

that strictly adheres to a Western lifestyle. Djaliba;’s clothing presents him from the

onset of the movie as the traditional African figure and is noticeably out of place in

the home of the upperclass Senegalese family he is living with. His role as a griot

has now been reduced to a poor traveler. He is a visual reminder to the family that

the past cannot be ignored.