Oh, Sun (1967)
(Soleil Ô)
Country: FR/MAUR
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Med Hondo
Cast: Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Gabriel Glissand, Bernard Fresson
Synopsis:
Having learnt oppression and exploitation from his colonisers, an educated and qualified Mauritanian travels to Paris to collect his 'interest on capital', as one character puts it. Once there, denied all but the most menial jobs, greeted with hostility by concierges and passers-by, and the subject of condescending advances from sexually curious white women, he ultimately goes mad.
Review:
Hondo's film, which had to wait three years for a European projection at Cannes, is frankly a bit of a mess, but there is no taking away from its righteous anger, ironic imagination or the engaging presence of its lead actor. Some parts, for example those of the priest and social historian, are taken by the same white performers, while another plays a white man professing to be a negro, in a Boris Vian-esque flourish. It is essentially a fantasia on colonialist themes, and at times proves incredibly prophetic of the troubles that would hit France in the 1980s and thereafter. Certain passages, it has to be said however, work better than others: in the climactic scene the Visitor flees to the countryside and meets an idyllic family who invite him into their cottage. We think he has found peace and acceptance, but he is already psychologically damaged and the children's undisciplined behaviour at the dinner table descends into a parody of colonial exploitation.
(Soleil Ô)
Country: FR/MAUR
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Med Hondo
Cast: Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Gabriel Glissand, Bernard Fresson
Synopsis:
Having learnt oppression and exploitation from his colonisers, an educated and qualified Mauritanian travels to Paris to collect his 'interest on capital', as one character puts it. Once there, denied all but the most menial jobs, greeted with hostility by concierges and passers-by, and the subject of condescending advances from sexually curious white women, he ultimately goes mad.
Review:
Hondo's film, which had to wait three years for a European projection at Cannes, is frankly a bit of a mess, but there is no taking away from its righteous anger, ironic imagination or the engaging presence of its lead actor. Some parts, for example those of the priest and social historian, are taken by the same white performers, while another plays a white man professing to be a negro, in a Boris Vian-esque flourish. It is essentially a fantasia on colonialist themes, and at times proves incredibly prophetic of the troubles that would hit France in the 1980s and thereafter. Certain passages, it has to be said however, work better than others: in the climactic scene the Visitor flees to the countryside and meets an idyllic family who invite him into their cottage. We think he has found peace and acceptance, but he is already psychologically damaged and the children's undisciplined behaviour at the dinner table descends into a parody of colonial exploitation.
(Soleil Ô)
Country: FR/MAUR
Technical: bw 98m
Director: Med Hondo
Cast: Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Gabriel Glissand, Bernard Fresson
Synopsis:
Having learnt oppression and exploitation from his colonisers, an educated and qualified Mauritanian travels to Paris to collect his 'interest on capital', as one character puts it. Once there, denied all but the most menial jobs, greeted with hostility by concierges and passers-by, and the subject of condescending advances from sexually curious white women, he ultimately goes mad.
Review:
Hondo's film, which had to wait three years for a European projection at Cannes, is frankly a bit of a mess, but there is no taking away from its righteous anger, ironic imagination or the engaging presence of its lead actor. Some parts, for example those of the priest and social historian, are taken by the same white performers, while another plays a white man professing to be a negro, in a Boris Vian-esque flourish. It is essentially a fantasia on colonialist themes, and at times proves incredibly prophetic of the troubles that would hit France in the 1980s and thereafter. Certain passages, it has to be said however, work better than others: in the climactic scene the Visitor flees to the countryside and meets an idyllic family who invite him into their cottage. We think he has found peace and acceptance, but he is already psychologically damaged and the children's undisciplined behaviour at the dinner table descends into a parody of colonial exploitation.