Chocolat

Denis observes the oppression of PoC and the colonialism of their land in a familiar way (as it happens, white privilege's delusions of grandeur inspire warped racist minds in every country), but within the specific troubling lens of a French woman addressing the ugliness of French Camaroon. Non-dramatized, importantly, for part of privilege is the confidence your dehumanizing is somehow opportunity. Last scenes are true freedom. To be human, to be normal, to just be.

Strongest in vignettes. Loved introduction of airplane characters. Very beautiful image to end on.

It's a film that serves itself up in very small measures, allowing us in teaspoon by teaspoon, with Denis (and this is a debut?!?) confidently refusing to let the characters address out loud what they cannot say out loud. There's no simple Hollywood speech or snappy dialogue that can defuse the tension of centuries of imbalances of power; acknowledging that the dream is over doesn't make it go away. Bankolé delivers one of the most intense performances of his career with hardly a word.

The thematic intent is abundantly clear, but the character subtleties used to convey it are quite elusive. No doubt the semi-autobiographical approach adds to the film's humanity and overall assertion that the legacy of colonialism can't be wrapped into any neat package, but still a very challenging piece to put together meaningfully. The present-day framing on either end of the flashback resonated most.

A very well handled look at guilt over French colonialism and the inner conflict between this guilt and the racism which arises as a bi-product of said colonialism. Seems to be regarded as a lesser film from Denis, but it's one of my favourites of her body of work.

a good film, and an astonishing debut

I haven't yet formulated a way to speak about how I have experienced this film and Beau Travail, but it is all very interesting.

Acho que aqui Denis ainda não está no nível de White Material ao tratar do colonialismo, mas já é uma tremenda jornada de estreia de uma das maiores diretoras dos últimos 40 anos. Na Mubi.

The story is really flat but the characters work and play off each other really well. Interesting piece of history but I won't watch it again. On its own it is really good but as a film debut, it is incredible.

intriguingly uncomfortable first film from someone who grew up as a french coloniser