Jean-Jacques Annaud - Noirs et blancs en couleur (1976)

Winner of the 1976 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film, Black and White in Color is a voracious and timely satire on racism, colonialism, and war. Set in the Ivory Coast during the First World War, a group of bungling French colonials learns that their country is at war with Germany. Spurred on by a capricious moment of patriotism, the Frenchmen decide to attack their German neighbors who reside in a colony up river, thus touching off a brutal series of hilariously unfortunate events. Image Entertainment




French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors. Deciding that they must do their proper duty and fight the Germans, they promptly conscript the local native population. Issuing them boots and rifles, the French attempt to make "proper" soldiers out of the Africans. A young, idealistic French geographer seems to be the only rational person in the town, and he takes over control of the "war" after several bungles on the part of the others. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0074972/plotsummary)




Black and White in Color is a deft and intelligent satire of both colonialism and war, but its true brilliance is most apparent in the swipes it takes at human nature itself. As in all great satire, none of the actors in the drama are given a free pass, be they white or black. The title's connection to racism and colonialism is clear, but it also describes the complexity of human motivations and the consequences of interpreting those motivations through an artificial and too-simple hierarchy, whether it be the colonialism of the film's setting or the oppressor-oppressed dialectics that dominated the academic scene at the time of the film's production, modes of thought effectively granting the downtrodden moral purity by virtue of their suffering. DVD Verdict9




Take for example a scene in which Fresnoy, our young hero-fool, meets with the local tribal chief in order to request men to defend the French colonists against an impending German raid. The wise old chief bemoans the fact his tribe lost nearly a hundred men in the conflict's opening skirmish (in which the French observed the fighting from a safe distance, as if on a day trip), but says the request won't be a problem. He'll just forcibly capture tribesmen from the savanna and make them fight. He sees no irony in pressing these innocent bystanders into service even after his own people were pressed into service to fight Germans with whom they have no grudge because, as he sees it, "the savanna people are savages.". DVD Verdict




In Annaud's view, simplistic hierarchical thinking isn't a product of race but a characteristic of all humanity. Yet in looking unflinchingly at the issue, he doesn't dismiss the tragedy and injustice of racism. Black and White in Color is not a guffaw-inspiring satire; its humor is more of the nod-your-head-and-smile variety, wickedly intelligent but also focused on realities difficult to laugh at. In one of the film's funniest turns, Fresnoy takes a tribeswoman as his wife, throwing the normal colonial hierarchy into disarray. The French colonists are at a loss around her: as the wife of their leader, she would customarily be treated with the deference afforded aristocratic ladies…but she's black. How can she be both a lady and not fully human? Their strained bows and curtsies, the wide-eyed rigidity of their faces as they try to behave with social grace is hilarious. DVD Verdict