by Annette Basile
Worth: $17.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Makenzy Orcel, Lucrèce Hougbelo, Parfait Vaiayinon
Intro:
… an extraordinary journey accompanied by an eerie and ambient score.
This utterly unique documentary doesn’t spoon-feed the information to you and yet delivers everything you need to know by closing time. Its early scenes are deliberately slow and mysterious, taking you inside a Parisian museum where 26 artifacts, plundered by French colonists, wait to be returned to their rightful home in Benin.
In a recurring fantasy sequence, we hear the voice of one of the artifacts, number 26 – a 220-kilogram wood and metal statue of King Ghézo. It’s a surreal and poetic representation of the King’s imagined inner life as he waits to return home.
The artifacts, of great cultural and artistic significance, originated in the West African Kingdom of Dahomey, which existed until 1904 within present-day Benin. This doco follows these 26 pieces from Paris, onto a cargo plane and back to Benin, where locals will celebrate in the streets on their return.
Up until this point, the viewer may feel intrigued but a little lost. But that all changes in the second half with an extraordinary debate in a hall full of students at the University of Abomey-Calavi in southern Benin.
The students are articulate and passionate. In the language of their French colonists, they discuss their feelings about colonisation and the artifacts, and we soon learn that these 26 are just the tip of the artifact iceberg – France holds some 7000 artworks plundered from Benin.
Benin has been independent since 1960, but the effects of colonisation linger. The debate is nuanced, every speaker offers a new perspective as the discussion navigates through complex political, historical and cultural waters. French president Emmanuel Macron didn’t return the artifacts “because we asked”, says one student, “he did it to boost his brand”.
Dahomey offers the viewer an extraordinary journey accompanied by an eerie and ambient score. While the early part of the film is perhaps a little slow, the latter part is vibrant and alive, providing contrast and balance.
Helmed by French-Senegalese writer/director/actor Mati Diop (Atlantics), with artifact 26’s words spoken and crafted by Haitian author Makenzy Orcel, Dahomey truly transports the viewer – to Benin and into the inner world of King Ghézo.
