 |
| Les Bicot-nègres, vos voisins. Photo: Il Cinema Ritrovato / Ciné-Archives: Fonds Audiovisuels du PCF. |
عمال عبيد / Umal abaed / [Slaves Workers].
Director: Med Hondo. Year: 1974. Country: Mauritania-Francia
Scen.: Med Hondo. F.: Jean Boffety, François Catonné. M.: Michel Masnier. Mus.: Catherine Le Forestier, Mohamed Ou Mustapha, Frank Valmont, Louis Zavier. Int.: Armand Abplanalp, Jean Berger, Claude Debord, Ahmed Hasmaou, Sally N’dongo, Mohamed Ou Mustapha, Jacques Thébault, Bachir Touré, Frank Valmont. Prod.: Les Films du Soleil. 35 mm. D.: 100’.
The duration according to IMDb and Wikipedia is 190 min. IMDb mentions both 160 min and 190 min. Med Hondo in an interview mentions that the duration was 3-4 hours and the intention was to expand it. The duration announced at the Ciné-Archives site is also 190 min.
Print from Ciné-Archives: Fonds Audiovisuels du PCF, Mouvement Ouvrier et Démocratique.
French version. With passages in Arabic either overdubbed or subtitled in French.
Introduce Aboubakar Sanogo, presented by Cecilia Cenciarelli.
Viewed at Sala Scorsese, Bologna (Il Cinema Ritrovato: Cinemalibero. Fespaco 1969-2019) with e-subtitles in Italian and English, 23 June 2019.
Aboubakar Sanogo (Il Cinema Ritrovato): "Arguably an outgrowth of Soleil Ô, Les Bicots-nègres analyses the living conditions of African migrant workers in France in the mid-1970s. The film has the potential to be a classic case study of cinematic over-determination. It comprises seven sequences exploring, respectively, the conditions of possibility of cinematic representation in Africa (the opening sequence), historical dissonance through the dialectic of past and present (the post-credit sequence), a flashback to the eve of African independence (the imaginary garden party sequence), the predicaments of the post-colony, an assessment of the living condition of migrant workers and the actions taken to transform these conditions, and a final sequence in a circular mode, which returns to the new cinema."
"In Les Bicots-nègres, Med Hondo engages the dual front of cinema and history through the production of what might be referred to as an indocile image. In the cinema of Med Hondo, the indocile image purports to do, undo and sometimes outdo both cinema and history.
Formally agnostic, it rejects the false choice between documentary and fiction by embracing both in full equanimity. Dissenting from the implicit injunction against the pedagogic in cinema (“if you have a message, send it through Western Union”), it seeks to creatively muster its discreet charm and deploy it productively in an essayistic form, thereby rejecting efforts to marginalise it."
"Committed to experimentalism, it displays an anticipatory quality, which paradoxically exposes the tyranny of the new and calls for the destruction of the old. Clear and cogent about its analysis of cinematic and historical dominance, it enrobes itself with the drape of time. Taking the shape of history itself, it makes history as dominance, the history of dominance, and the historical dominance of established modes of filmmaking tremble. It might be argued that some of the avenues it opened four decades ago are yet to be fully exploited or surpassed." Aboubakar Sanogo
AA: In his introduction Aboubakar Sanogo emphasized the work-in-progress character of Les Bicot-nègres. Officially dated as a film from the year 1974 Med Hondo kept revising it until the year 1988, as can be observed from the posters of 1980s films visible in some scenes.
I have not seen enough of Med Hondo's films, but the two masterpieces I know, Sarraounia and Soleil Ô, are completely different from each other, as is Les Bicot-nègres, an essay film in seven disparate parts. The film is uneven but fascinating.
It is a powerful Godardian attempt to come to terms with the fall of French colonialism, definitively with the victory of Algerian freedom and independence fight in 1962. Colonialism transforms into neo-colonialism. Mechanisms of exploitation are analyzed, and everyday oppression and racism in France is discussed without mincing words.
"Nous sommes les undésirables" in this account of "the Mahgreb in the land of Marianne". A black person cannot rent a room. A black person is discriminated in the workplace. He cannot bring his family with him. He faces solitude and isolation. He is even rejected by sex workers.
There are many different forms of address in the film: straight recitations, parodical scenes of intrigue, startling episodes of everyday racism, agit montages, animations, and electrifying song passages.
The scenes of bribery and corruption in the context of emigration are memorable. As are scenes of torture with a broken bottle when a black rebel is being interrogated.
I would like to know the name of the wonderful female singer whose song carries a montage of African migrant workers.
The film is uneven because some of the caricatures feel tired, some of the speeches become tirades, and at times the film feels prolonged.
But there are passages that represent Med Hondo at his best, passages of engrossing poetry and great engaged cinema. Unfortunately the racism discussed in this film is still topical in many ways.
There is an address of poetry in the finale. Med Hondo has become a Godardian griot. "Only we can fight for ourselves".
The colour is glowing in this print, screened at 100 min instead of the standard 190 min.
THE CINÉ-ARCHIVES SITE ON LES BICOTS-NEGRES
La France, pays de Cocagne! La France qui chante, qui danse, qui rit, qui s'amuse, qui mange, boit et consomme en mordant à belles dents dans cette société dite d'abondance! La France qui digère, la France qui sommeille, repue! La France qui s'endort... La France aveugle! Du village en brousse à la "sélection", du bateau au port hospitalier, terre promise, du logement sordide aux travaux les plus durs, le long cheminement des immigrés, quittant une misère pour tomber dans une autre. Ils sont là, ils existent, respirent et tentent de survivre! Vingt, trente dans une masure sans chauffage ni sanitaire, l'eau du puits par tous les temps, la crasse pour tout horizon. L'embauche, la discrimination, les brimades, le racisme, la peur, les pressions, le chantage.
Comment résister, comment s'en sortir quand le voisin, "l'autre" est sourd, muet, aveugle? Ils souffrent, baissent la tête, supportent. D'autres arrivent. La main d'oeuvre n'est plus nécessaire, elle est indispensable! Ils sont indispensables! Certains le savent, le proclament! Ils s'unissent, revendiquent, manifestent. C'est un droit; ils l'ont gagné par leur travail, rien ne pourra faire taire leurs voix d'opprimés. Il faut les écouter, les comprendre, les aimer. Ce sont des hommes !
Titre anglais : Arabs and Niggers, Your Neighbours / Black Wogs Your Neighbours
Pays Concerné : Mauritanie
Réalisateur : Med Hondo
Pays du réalisateur : France, Mauritanie
Avec : Souleymane Koly
Production : Soleil O
Pays de production : France
Durée : 190'
Genre : drame
Type : fiction
SOURCE : AFRICULTURES
Matériel disponible : copie 35mm
No comments:
Post a Comment