19 October 2015

BLACK GIRL/BOROM SARRET- A JOINT REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©



BLACK GIRL/BOROM SARRET- TWO FILMS BY OUSMANE SEMBÈNE- A DOUBLE REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©

BLACK GIRL. 1966. DIRECTED BY OUSMANE SEMBÈNE. STARRING M'BISSINE THÉRÈSE DIOP, ANNE-MARIE JELINEK, ROBERT FONTAINE AND MOMAR NAR SENE.

BOROM SARRET (AKA THE WAGONER). 1963. WRITTEN, DIRECTED AND NARRATED BY OUSMANE SEMBÈNE. STARRING LY ABDOULAY.

This autumn (2015), the lovely people at the British Film Institute will be releasing two films by Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène in a Dual Format Edition, which is film-talk for DVD and Blu-ray so don't be alarmed by the high-tech terminology, haha. The films are BLACK GIRL (1969) and his directorial debut BOROM SARRET (1963), which is considered by some to be the first film ever made in Africa by a black African. This gives it a not inconsiderable significance, I think you'll agree.
I openly confess to having been ignorant of the work of this particular director until I was given the most welcome commission of reviewing these two movies. Always glad of a chance to educate myself in the area of world cinema, I immersed myself utterly (I'm nothing if not thorough...!) and now I can tell you quite honestly that they're both mini-masterpieces of the genre.
They made me laugh, they made me cry, but they mostly made me think. About what? About how lucky I am, mostly. Lucky to have food and clothing and shelter and to pretty much always know where my next meal is coming from. Lucky enough that I've never had to leave my family to go live and work in a strange country because there isn't any work to be had in my area.
Yet, even though the two films did make me exercise my 'little grey cells,' as Poirot would say, they're not preachy or in any way hectoring. They're just two beautiful, thought-provoking films and if you like world cinema, you'll most likely love them. Let's have a quick overview.
The award-winning BLACK GIRL tells the story of an attractive young Senegalese woman called Diouana. She goes to work in France for a rich couple because there aren't enough jobs in her hometown of Dakar to go round. The scene where the African women are all gathered by the side of the road while a wealthy, stylishly-dressed white woman looks them over and decides which one of them she wants to have working for her makes for uncomfortable viewing. Right from the get-go, we know where Diouana stands in the pecking order and so, clearly, does Diouana.
In France, things don't work out for the young woman the way she hopes. Straightaway, the rich couple start treating Diouana like a servant as well as a childminder and she is miserable, cooped up in their high-rise apartment constantly picking up after the family and never being allowed out.
The mistress of the house is a prize B**ch With A Capital B. She never misses a chance to remind Diouana that she is 'just a servant.' She criticises her choice of dress and footwear and even forbids Diouana to wear her nice shoes while she's working. It's almost as if she wants her servant to be walking around the kitchen and bathroom barefoot. Eventually, Diouana decides she's had enough and she packs her bag...
Diouana's good shoes and especially her flat sandals are shown repeatedly and the sight of them is unbearably sad. It's like we're being shown via symbolism the disparity between the carefree life she expected to live in France and the actual drudgery of the life she's stuck with. The African mask with which Diouana presents her undeserving employers is another deeply moving symbol of the difference between the two cultures.
BOROM SARRET or THE WAGONER could also have been called A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SENEGALESE TAXI-DRIVER, although the taxi-cab in question is actually a horse-and-cart. It's only twenty minutes long and it tells the story of an impoverished cart-driver and family man who barely manages to scrape a living from ferrying people around the city of Dakar.
On the day in question, the Wagoner experiences all human life as he first drives a labouring woman to the maternity hospital with her husband and then a bereaved father to the cemetery with his tiny baby wrapped in a cloth bag in his arms. This latter scene is so sad. A trip to the wealthier French side of town, however, does not end in the desired prosperity for the cart-driver and the film's dénoument sees our downtrodden pal return to the family home with bad news for his wife...


Both films are in black-and-white, with an option to watch BLACK GIRL in colour. There are a load of special features too, including a sixty-minute documentary entitled: SEMBÈNE: THE MAKING OF AFRICAN CINEMA. The whole package is definitely a purchase worth making. I'm genuinely glad I've been introduced to the films of Ousmane Sembène. I'm only sorry it took so long.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.

Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based performance poet, novelist, film blogger, sex blogger and short story writer. She has given more than 200 performances of her comedy sex-and-relationship poems in different venues around Dublin, including The Irish Writers' Centre, The International Bar, Toners' Pub (Ireland's Most Literary Pub), the Ha'penny Inn, Le Dernier Paradis at the Trinity Inn and The Strokestown Poetry Festival.
Her articles, short stories and poems have appeared in The Metro-Herald newspaper, Ireland's Big Issues magazine, The Irish Daily Star, The Irish Daily Sun and The Boyne Berries literary journal. In August 2014, she won the ONE LOVELY BLOG award for her (lovely!) horror film review blog. She is addicted to buying books and has been known to bring home rain-washed tomes she finds on the street and give them a home. In 2003, she was invited to be a guest on Niall Boylan's 98FM late-night radio talk show purely on the basis of having a 'sexy voice.'
She is the proud possessor of a pair of unfeasibly large bosoms. They have given her- and the people around her- infinite pleasure over the years. She adores the horror genre in all its forms and will swap you anything you like for Hammer Horror or JAWS memorabilia. She would also be a great person to chat to about the differences between the Director's Cut and the Theatrical Cut of The Wicker Man. You can contact her at:


http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com



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