History & Reality: Exploring Postcolonial Cinema
For our screening for 499 (2020) directed by Rodrigo Reyes, we at FACETS see it of utmost importance to create a watchlist of films that explores the consequences of the failed colonial project of the past. 499 is a film that tackles subject matter from a unique perspective. A ghostly unnamed conquistador (Eduardo San Juan Breña) has ostensibly time traveled in his period garb to present-day. He follows the same route as Cortés took in 1521 to conquer the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, but in this modern-day setting. The film can be described as a hybrid between documentary and fiction while also built on through the tradition of magical realism. These techniques allow for a comparison between Cortés’ sacking of Tenochtitlan and the harsh realities that modern-day Mexicans face.
The enduring violence that real-life contemporary colonized people continue to face is what this film shows, which is what our watchlist hopes to find in postcolonial films from around the world. This watchlist will show the adverse effect of colonialism from countries all over the globe. Since this film and its themes have been seen in many film movements such as Third Cinema Movements and the Cinema Novo in Brazil, we believe that there is much more to watch than just 499 to educate ourselves on post-colonial history. These films featured will be from parts of India, Africa, North and South America..etc. They will show the consequences and the realities of life that are a direct result of the past colonial project. So, without further ado, let us explore the world of postcolonial cinema.
Zama
Directed by Lucrecia Martel
For our first choice on this postcolonial watchlist, which is always a heavy task, we have chosen a contemporary film that has previously screened at FACETS. Zama by Lucrecia Martel is an Argentine period drama that takes place in the 18th century and is about Don Diego de Zama (Daniel Giménez Cacho) who is a magistrate for Spain on a remote outpost in Argentina. His primary desire is to be assigned to the post in Lerma, which he assumes will happen soon. He mostly spends his time attempting to seduce Luciana Piñares de Luenga (Lola Dueñas), who refuses his advance, while she is much more accepting of Ventura Prieto (Juan Minujín).. Director Lucrecia Martel makes striking observations about colonialism and class dynamics through the film’s 115 minute runtime. In addition to Zama, there is an assistant magistrate, Ventura Prieto, who actually objects to the enslavement of indigenous people.
Feeling doomed to his post, Zama joins a group to hunt down the established killer Vicuña Porto. This hunt for Porto causes a lot of issues since when the men realize Porto is their friend, and they still retain allegiance to him. The ending includes an indigenous man and child turning into Zama’s saviors, which further establishes this film as a biting satire on colonialism. This story of the uphill battle of Don Diego de Zama can be seen as a nice pairing or double feature for 499. If you choose to, you won’t regret watching the problems of bureaucracy unfold in this 2017 drama by renowned director Lucrecia Martel.
Black Girl
Directed by Ousmane Sembène
For the second film, we have chosen an incredibly moving and difficult film by Ousmane Sembène. World-renowned filmmaker Ousmane Sembène shows us the consequences of colonialism through harshly depicted racism toward a Sengelese house servant in a French home. Diouana, a Sengalese woman, is chosen out of a group of women to become a caregiver for the children of a rich French family in Senegal. After a while, the family asks her to move to Paris and serve them there. However, the anticipated freedom to explore Paris by Diouana is tucked away when she quickly realizes that she is not to leave the apartment.
In all, the director chooses a heart-wrenching conclusion that you must see to believe. Black Girl (1966) is not simply a film that shows one segment of French life. It shows the direct result of colonialism in Senegal in the story of Diouana. Symbolically, Sembène uses a traditional African mask to represent unity as well as a way to connect Diouana to the struggles of colonialism. The mask embodies her through it’s transportation and framing against a white wall in France while it was framed near other masks in Senegal. The story is taken as the need for an African woman to leave her native roots in order to accrue wealth for herself. The mask is one that comments on her position in certain environments while also being an artifact of her home in a village near Dakar.
Rent Black Girl now at FACETS.
Black God, White Devil
Directed by Glauber Rocha
Black God, White Devil (1964) directed by Glauber Rocha, who was a key player in the Cinema Novo movement, is a film that addresses some pressing issues in 1960s Brazil. For those who are not familiar with Cinema Novo, it is simply a movement of film that rose to prominence during the 1960s and 70s when both the United States and Brazil had a class and race turmoil. This is essentially Brazil’s new wave that rejected the current state of Brazilian cinema (at that time), which were feel-good escapist films similar to Hollywood. For Rocha, his approach to filmmaking was avant garde but also politically alert. His films explore the issues regarding what is called, “The Third World” and more specifically Brazil. Black God, White Devil is one of the most praised films of this movement, which deals with the state of affairs in Brazil, as well as the violence that creeps around every corner.
The film explores violence in the shape of almost all the characters in the backlands of Brazil, beginning with Manuel (Geraldo Del Rey) the main protagonist. Although the film is not touching directly on the colonial past, the film explores the violence and economic issues of Brazil in a manner that demands political attention. The film begins with worker Manuel killing his boss because he tries to cheat him on payment. Next, the now bandit Manuel follows a self-proclaimed Saint who abhors violence but kills a baby. One can say that this film is a look at the need for one to stray from the established norms of culture and religion. This is a universal exploration into how we can move through our own voice and avoid what has been written in culture (in this case, a Brazilian colonial past).
Rent Black God, White Devil at FACETS.
Chocolat
Directed by Claire Denis
Chocolat (1988) is a film that looks at race and colonialism through the lens of an 8-year-old girl growing up in colonial Cameroon. The film’s director Claire Denis was actually raised in parts of French Colonized Africa, so this film could be seen as partially autobiographical. France Dalens (Cecile Ducasse), a young girl who has no experience outside of this colonial setting, regards the subjugation of African natives as part of nature. Despite this belief, gradually the film reveals how cruel the system is through her experiences. The film is in flashbacks in the perspective of an older Dalens looking back at her life and realizing that the entire colonial system she grew up in was actually cruel and unjust.
The cruel injustice in the film is the fact that there is a sexual tension between the mother Aimée Dalens (Giulia Boschi), and their servant Protée (Isaach de Bankolé). This is significant because by looking back at the reality of a young girl and her family, it demonstrates the hypocrisy of the entire system. How one can live and use the native people as their worker but also punish them for not reciprocating their advances (in the case of France’s mother who gets rebuffed by Protée). Furthermore, the name of the young girl, “France” is telling of what she embodies as a character. All in all, this film works as a postcolonial film through the way it frames itself. The young girl, now an adult, sees the mistakes of her country and now sits with the guilt of having been a part of such a system.
Watch Chocolat now on the Criterion Channel.
Gahndi
Directed by Richard Attenborough
This list would not be complete without speaking about the 1982 film about the colonial resistance leader Mahatma Gandhi. The film, praised for its accuracy, details the life of Gandhi in a way that begins with his death, but shows his resistances starting in South Africa where Gandhi was taken off a train in 1893 for being an Indian in first class. This was the beginning for his fight against colonialism and the unjust tyranny that was a result of the colonisers policies of subjugation. His return to India to fight the British for its independence is one of epic proportions.
With his coordination of millions of Indians nationwide to resist the rule of the British, Gandhi fought nonviolently with many setbacks. In scope, this film provides a large swath of the colonial fight to the forefront with the figure of Gandhi. After watching this film, many conversations can be had about the result of the colonial project that caused many of the issues we can see today. If you appreciate historical films, ones of resistance and against unjust rule, Gandhi (1982) is for you.
Rent Gandhi now at FACETS.
Touki Bouki
Directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty
A potential double feature to Black Girl, the film translated to “The Journey of the Hyena” is a Senegalese drama depicting Sengelese natives trying to move from Senegal to France. Unlike the slower pace of Sembène’s film, this is a film influenced by the faster-paced editing style of the French New Wave, and examines postcolonial search for freedom in a different direction than Black Girl. The characters in Touki Bouki, Mory and Anta, strive to move themselves away from Senegal with a plan to raise enough money to leave for France.
Through their actions, we get to understand the landscape of Senegal and understand ideas pertaining to their identity. In this exploration, we go along for a ride that makes us question Senegal and the ramifications of French colonialism as we see these characters try to make a break for it. In what we are led to believe, and these characters envisioning better lives for themselves, we expect them to make it to their destination. Nevertheless, the ending is still one that shows the difficulty of moving on from your own culture, even when the opportunity is right in front of you.
Rent Touki Bouki now from FACETS.
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Directed by Philip Noyce
Rabbit-Proof Fence, directed by Philip Noyce, takes us to Australia where three aboriginal girls are taken to be trained as domestic staff. These girls escape and set off on a journey across the Outback following a 1500 miles of Rabbit-Proof Fence that guides their way. The film is based upon the child removal policies in Australia between 1905 – 1967, where Australian federal and state governments would kidnap and relocate children who were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. Learn more about what was dubbed “The Stolen Generations” here. Other than showing the cruel laws in place, this film is a harrowing journey across the Outback by three girls. They walk along the enormous stretch Australian “rabbit-proof” fence in order to return to their community in Jigalong. As they attempt this journey, they are pursued by a tracker as well as law enforcement.
Why Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) is on the list is evident. Simply observing the name of the film, “Rabbit-Proof Fence” shows a dehumanization through the policies enacted as a result of colonization that occurred even into the 1970s. By likening the aboriginal girls to rabbits (hence the name) this film sheds light on the brutality of backward practices that had taken root even deep into the 20th century.
Rent Rabbit-Proof Fence now from FACETS.
The Battle of Algiers
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
An important member of the Italian Neorealist Movement, The Battle of Algiers (1966), directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, is a film that depicts the events that took place in the French Algeria capital city during the Algerian War of Independence. An important factor in why this film is on the list, is that both the French counter insurgency and the FLN insurgents are shown to commit war atrocities on civilians. Since both groups, in the fight against and for independence, disregard the people they are ultimately responsible for, it shows a problematic relationship between colonizer and colony. The colonial project is shown as a failure in this film.
As a film that takes the neorealist style, it depends on this style of filmmaking in order to show the harshness of reality during this battle through non-professional actors and newsreel footage. The importance for the Italian neorealists to depict the world as it was, specifically the fact that both the French paratroopers and the FLN guerilla insurgency commit these atrocities, both thinking they’re in the right, and both showing how the colonial project of Algeria, shows both sides took a horrific turn (at the time). The film is a seminal work of Neorealist cinema that should be seen by all.
Rent The Battle of Algiers now from FACETS.
Walkabout
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
A film that would make a good double feature with Rabbit-Proof Fence, portrays an Aboriginal boy as the savior to two white children who are lost in the Australian Outback. After their father tries to murder them, they get lost in the outback and cross paths with an Aboriginal boy who leads them for a time. This film explores the dynamics, as well as the human willingness of oppressed peoples to help people considered to be their colonizer. In the children, and this Aboriginal fellow, we see something more human than we could imagine at first glance.
There is a scene where they encounter a plantation and the white woman owner, but the Aboriginal boy ignores her. This could be seen as how the current state affairs is playing out (at the time), with the Aboriginal boy simply choosing to ignore the aristocratic state of landowners. As a tale of survival, this film should be on anyone’s watchlist of cinema that deals with the relationship between oppressor and oppressed. If you are interested in what the term walkabout is, read more here.
Rent Walkabout now from FACETS.
Cabeza de Vaca
Directed by Nicolás Echevarría
For our final film, Cabeza de Vaca, it is one that might be the root of the film we are screening 499. This Mexican film is about Cabeza de Vaca, an early Spanish explorer, who survives the Narváez expedition and subsequent shipwreck, and traverses the landscape of what is now the Southeast United States. Although it does not tell the story of colonization’s effect on the present, it is a necessary look at the past because it can often give us a basis to compare what the issues are rampant today.
With this film, that looks at an early Spanish explorer becoming a Native American shaman in order to survive the difficult landscape, we can see the early roots of what was to happen with the colonization of this landscape. After eight years of survival with the Native Americans, de Vaca’s loyalty is tested when conquistadors return to try and conquer the natives. Although 499 is about a conquistador that travels time and follows the route of his ancestors, this film is one that could have been an inspiration in that it shows an early version of Spanish colonization while 499 shows current times. All in all, if you would like to learn more about the Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca, this film might just be for you.
Rent Cabeza de Vaca now at FACETS.
Pre-order your tickets now for Rodrigo Reyes’s magical realist docufiction, 499, opening Friday, October 1, 2021 and playing October 1-3 & 15-17 only at FACETS.
Christian Mietus is an Editorial Assistant Intern at FACETS. He is a Senior working towards a B.A in EnglishGeneral Writing (Creative and Professional) at Lewis University with minors in Film Studies and Russian Language and Culture. In 2019, his poetry was published in both the WINDOWS fine arts magazine and in the City Brink literary magazine. In May 2019, his collaborative project, “Assimilation through Sound” was chosen for the Stephany Schlachter Award at Lewis University. Christian is a film lover, some of his favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky, Andrzej Wajda, and Krzysztof Kieslowski.