Black Girl (1966) La noire de...
Black Girl (1966)
DVDRip | MKV | 718x480 | x264 @ 1895 Kbps | 56 min | 851 Mb
Audio: Français AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English (embedded in MKV)
Genre: Drama
DVDRip | MKV | 718x480 | x264 @ 1895 Kbps | 56 min | 851 Mb
Audio: Français AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English (embedded in MKV)
Genre: Drama
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Writers: Ousmane Sembene (based on a novella by), Ousmane Sembene
Stars: Mbissine Thérèse Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinek, Robert Fontaine
A Senegalese woman is eager to find a better life abroad. She takes a job as a governess for a French family, but finds her duties reduced to those of a maid after the family moves from Dakar to the south of France. In her new country, the woman is constantly made aware of her race and mistreated by her employers. Her hope for better times turns to disillusionment and she falls into isolation and despair. The harsh treatment leads her to consider suicide the only way out.
I am very glad I finally saw "Black Girl." I missed seeing it when it was first released in the U.S., and now–36 years after it was produced–the film found its way to Upstate New York (Rochester Labor Film Festival).
We cannot judge this movie in 2002 terms–by those terms it is technically crude, and too short (only 65 minutes). The print shown in Rochester was of poor quality–especially just before and after reel changes.
Despite all these hurdles, I found "Black Girl" compelling and disturbing. The basic themes are the conflict and contrasts between White and Black, European and African, rich and poor, literate and non-literate. The contrasts are not subtle, but neither are they violent or brutal. There is no physical violence, but rather emotional and psychological violence.
Sembene–who had to learn his cinema craft in Russia because opportunities were denied him by the French–is a master. A master working without star actors and without state-of-the-art technology can still produce a masterpiece!
(click to enlarge)
Black Girl (1966) La noire de...
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