Black Girl

A landmark film, Ousmane Sembene's Black Girl (1966) is among the first feature-length African films, and remains striking today. Though short (65 minutes) and dramatically simple, it's a powerful indictment of neo-colonialism, showing how European influence lingered on even after Africa gained its nominal independence.

Diouanna (Mbissine Therese Diop) is a poor girl from Dakar, Senegal who is hired as a maid by an unnamed French couple (Robert Fontaine and Anne-Marie Jelinick), who have a minor position of authority in Dakar. Returning to France with them, Diouanna finds herself increasingly unhappy with her demanding, uncaring masters, who treat her with a complete lack of respect. Diouanna passively rebels, refusing to work any longer, only heightening their racism and cruel treatment of her.

A simple melodrama on the surface, Black Girl is rich with symbolism and thematic content. Its exploration of racism is particularly damning; the white characters are nice-enough in Dakar, but in France, shorn of their nominal power and marked as shiftless losers, they show their true colors. They demean Diouanne and other blacks as lazy, violent and so forth, while acting listless and petty themselves; their rapidly degenerating marriage is a complete contrasts. Diouanne's hard-scrabble life in Dakar is pretty bad, but her dreams of great fulfillment in France only lead to resentment and disappointment.

The movie ends in a staggering denouement, with Diouanne, unable to leave her home or even write her own letters, finally unable to stand her domestic oppression. The French couple's attempts to "buy off" their charge results only in tragedy and guilt. While Europe can move on from the centuries of imperialism, Africa is stuck with the tragedy for years to come.

Sembene was the pre-eminent West African filmmaker; he continued making films until his death in 2004. His direction is fairly sparse, with a clear influence from Italian neo-realism, but he packs it with a vivid mise-en-scene, full of striking images, from the recurring tribal mask (serving as a symbol of African culture and Diouanne's subservience) to the stark black-and-white decor of the French house. Performances are mostly good, with Mbissine Therese Diop giving a subtly powerful performance, selling her character with little actual dialogue (only voice over narration) and marvellous subtlety.

Black Girl is a powerful, incisive and insightful film. Its simplicity is one of its greatest virtues; it makes its point well-enough that it doesn't need bells and whistles. As an indictment of colonialism and its lasting effects, it remains a powerful work of art.