Camp de Thiaroye (Sembene, 1988): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 3pm
This film, which also screens on August 20th, is part of the Ousmane Sembène season. You can find all the details here.
Time Out review:
In 1939, young men in French African colonies were recruited to fight
the 'World's' war in Europe. Five years later, some returned to Camp
Thiaroye to await back pay and demobbing. Tension between men and
officers, complaints about chow, a misadventure in a brothel: staples of
the basic training and/or prison camp genre are all present and
correct. But although the influence of years in France is apparent (he
fought in WWII himself), Ousmane Sembene's is an African sensibility; and the
after-effects of the culture clash (literal and metamorphical)
precipitated by Hitler is but one of the themes in a subtle and moving
picture. Through a series of everyday incidents, we gradually realise
the extent of the French (white) officers' racism; the hypocritical
games they play seem ironic at first, but lead to a shameful and bloody
end. This, in microcosm, is a story of colonialism, told from the
receiving end and taken to a radical conclusion. Sembene and Thierno Faty Sow have
made what is not only a humane, passionate film, but an honest and vital
memorial to those men who died, after the war, at Camp Thiaroye.
Tom Charity
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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