New African Cinema

One of subSaharan Africa's newest forms of art - and probably the least known in the Western world - is cinema, which, nevertheless, has been in existence there for more than thirty-five years. This cinema emerged at a time when many African nations were gaining independence from European colonial powers. New times were calling for new images that would be free of the one-dimensional and often derogatory stereotypes popularized by various non-Africans in the media, particularly the makers of Western cinema, whose jungle melodramas over the decades had been tainted by colonial or discriminatory racial ideologies. These movies often presented uncivilized, childish, or cruel African natives and stressed the valiant deeds of European explorers, wild game hunters, or treasure seekers.

From its beginnings, subSaharan African cinema has been largely envisioned by its creators as a serious and functional art form, presenting realistic images of Africa from an African viewpoint. Directors have often used film as a political weapon, hoping to foster social change on the domestic front. Conceived within a didactic framework, such motion pictures depict Africa at its precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial stages. While addressing a number of sociopolitical issues, they frequently focus on the overall conflicts between indigenous traditions and European mores. As a result, most early subSaharan films contained linear narratives and realistic images, with few technical innovations. At that point, political efficacy was more important than stylistic originality. This naturalistic trend is still in existence today, and critics tend to neglect the esthetic creativity of singular films. One of the merits of this series of four videos is that it adequately reflects the often ignored diversity subSaharan African cinema has acquired over the years.

Touki Bouki (1973), or 'journey of the hyena' in Wolof, the Afrcan language extensively spoken in Senegal, portrays the wanderings of Mory, a former shepherd now residing in Dakar. There he meets Anta, a young university student, with whom he soon shares the dream of going to France. They join wits to devise a series of unlawful schemes to secure the money to undertake the journey. At the last minute, however, Mory decides to stay ashore and Anta goes off, the only one to fulfill their common dream. Although it does not follow the clear linear progression that characterizes a large part of African storytelling, Touki Bouki includes thematic elements commonly found in African tales. Mory is the trickster type frequently described in the oral tradition, which also commonly portrays a number of protagonists leaving their village to venture to an unknown land. Like a folk hero, Mory has to overcome obstacles and triumph over adversity. In so doing, he performs a rite of passage from tradition to modernity and from adolescence to adulthood. His odyssey is an initiatory rite resulting in new knowledge about himself and others. Mory's quest for a dream is indeed a self-searching journey.

The dynamic pulse of Touki Bouki relies on constant movement between opposite poles (realistic scenes vs. oneiric and/or surrealistic sequences), elaborate editing (fragmented time, visual leitmotifs, parodic and allegorical juxtapositions), and creative use of sound as a narrative device. Director Mambety's work requires the viewer's ceaseless participation in the reconstruction of a deconstructed reality, a device also found in the Nouveau Roman, avant-garde theater, and New Wave cinema, particularly in Jean-Luc Godard's films. An impetuous, irreverent, and visually splendid production, Touki Bouki has withstood the test of time and is now hailed by many as a classic African film.

Wend Kuuni (1982) takes place in pre-colonial times in what is now Burkina Faso. It describes an epoch when the Mossi empire was at the height of its power and splendor. One day a peddler finds a child lying unconscious at the foot of a tree. The boy turns out to be mute and cannot reveal his past. Soon thereafter, he is adopted by a weaver and his family, who call him Wend Kuuni, meaning gift of God. Wend Kuuni is lovingly raised by his foster parents and develops a touching friendship with Pognere, his young adoptive sister, who is able to relate to him in spite of his muteness. Wend Kuuni participates in village life and becomes a shepherd.

The idyllic serenity of the boy's new community is suddenly disrupted by a woman who boisterously accuses her aging husband of impotence. Unable to bear this public shame, the husband hangs himself. With the emotional shock of discovering the dead man's body, Wend Kuuni regains his power of speech. Finally able to tell his own story, he explains his muteness as a consequence of the trauma of seeing his mother die in the bush. She had been banned from her village as a witch because after her husband disappeared while hunting, she refused to remarry, as required by tradition, and continued to hope for his return.

Wend Kuuni is beautifully photographed, and its lyrical cinematic language reclaims the poetry and clarity of traditional African storytelling. A pastoral tale, the film also appears as a timeless parable on generosity that may have implications for the present era when coarse individualism and neocolonial profiteering hamper the progress of developing African nations. In the context of twentieth-century ethnic rivalries and genocides, Wend Kuuni calls to mind ancestral virtues of acceptance and solidarity which allowed an unknown mute child to be peacefully incorporated into the family and socioeconomic fabric of a rural society. Kabore's work, however, does not merely project a lost paradise, it also has contemporary overtones in its depiction of bold actions by women in defiance of the patriarchal order.

Le Vie est Belle (1987), a Zairian-Belgian coproduction, is one of the rare musical comedies in African cinema. Unabashedly commercial in form and joyous in spirit, it is built around the fame, popularity, and engaging personality of Papa Wemba, a famous Zairian singer. Wemba plays the role of Kourou, a village musician who goes to the capital city, Kinshasa. After a series of tribulations, he ends up with fame and glitter and wins the heart and hand of the woman he loves. A vivid example of what its directors term popular African cinema, this apparently light and carefree modern fairy tale contains touches of social criticism reflected through farcically sarcastic vignettes of urban life. Yet the film's intention seems merely to entertain, a goal it achieves very successfully, eliciting sustained laughter from both African and Western audiences, who are delighted to enjoy and discover the musical and acting talents of Papa Wemba.

Quartier Mozart (1992) may call to mind Touki Bouki's iconoclastic sarcasm, but it is a daring and original spoof that reflects yet another aspect of African filmmaking. An esthetically pleasing mix of realistic footage and photo-novel/cartoon styles, with touches of farcical popular African theater, it tells of a forty-eight hour period in a working class neighborhood in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde. A Catholic priest connives with polygamists, and the police chief's actions can be perceived as a parody of some contemporary military regimes in Africa and elsewhere.

Accompanied by local rap-like music and cleverly edited sound, this innovative, petulant, and playful work was shot by Jean-Pierre Bekolo, one of Africa's newest film talents. After the presentation of characters introducing themselves by talking into the camera (a la early Spike Lee and in the manner of French New Wave directors before him), Quartier Mozart tells the story of a girl, nicknamed Queen of the 'Hood, who is turned into a young man by a witch, Maman Thekla, so that she can experience firsthand the rules and strategies of gender politics at work in this part of town. The witch also transforms herself into a man, Panka, who magically causes men's genitals to disappear, later arguing that it is the only way to erase their pride. Assuming her new sexual identity, Queen of the 'Hood will later be challenged by other men to court the daughter of the police chief. But s/he proves unable to perform sexually, escapes just as the girl's father enters the house, and hails a taxi driven by Panka/Thekla. The witch reverts to a woman and returns Queen to her prior state. This unconventional coming-of-age film ends with the young girl acquiring new wisdom and aspiring to nothing but true love.

Kino on Video should be congratulated for facilitating the dissemination of African cinema, films which have been mainly limited to museum and university circuits. Some of the filmmakers may feel ill at ease with the reduced size of their images, but American viewers will be pleased to have access to these small windows opened onto an African world that is still largely alien to them.

Distribution Source:

Touki Bouki: Directed by Djibril Diop Mambety; VHS, color, 85 mins., Wolof with English subtitles.

Wend Kuuni: Directed by Gaston Kabore; VHS, color, 70 mins., More with English subtitles.

La Vie est Belle: Directed by Ngangura Mweze and Benoit Lamy; VHS, color, 85 mins., French and Lingala with English subtitles.

Quartier Mozart:. Directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo; VHS, color, 80 mins., French with English subtitles.

These four films are distributed as a specially-priced package titled "New African Cinema" by Kino on Video, 333 West 39th St., New York, NY 10018, phone (212) 629-6880 or 1 (800) 562-3330.