In a deprived neighborhood, Gramimina vents her anger on her painter husband, for he fails to cover the household expenses.
It is an absolute and eternal truth.” As he addresses Madjeumbe, he shows him a photo of the head of a black person held at the end of a pick by a settler: “I question the past without ever answering”.
As the images show a garden where women, adorned with bright colors, are on their way to a reception for the colony's commander, he states that everyone had two paths since the end of freedom.
The commander is found in a hut where Dieri, child of Queen Dior Fall, is waiting for him, seated cross-legged.
Khaly says he defies death and transcends the ages, “as an eternal author, I take hold of History.” He is back in front of his dinner audience to affirm that his song is full of emotion and imagination.
The factory manager, Mister Diop, offers the trade unionists a special raise, which infuriates Madjeumbe because the workers’ situation does not change.
During her fiery performance before a large crowd in a street adorned with the French flag, the dancer urges her to “leave the maids of Walo in peace”, reminding her that domestic work does not mean slavery.
Freeze frame: Khaly proclaims that Koura Thiaw “restores dignity to the humiliated, and since then her song of revolt has been on everyone's lips every time the sun rises”.
It took the director two years of archival research in both Senegal and France to weave together the historical components of the script, written in collaboration with Senegalese sociologist Babacar Sine.
[1] It was produced with a mixed team of Western and African technicians, and a cast of professional and amateur actors including Oumar Seck and Isseu Niang from Théâtre national Daniel Sorano in Dakar.
[3] The production of the film took four years due to a chronic lack of funds,[2] and the director found himself 50 million in debt.
[3] Louis Marcorelles has a more positive opinion: “It deploys the tones and relationships of color and light with infinite gentleness, like a story that sketches and dawdles, without ever wanting to prove anything”.
[2] As for Paulo Antonio Paranagua, he praises the plastic beauty of Jom and the human warmth stemming from the griot and the lively, energetic female characters.
[7] The first part of the film is based on the story of Dieri Dior Ndella, a legendary prince from the early twentieth century who had to kill a French colonial officer to save his honor.