Black Girl

French New Wave influences, with beautiful shots of personal turmoil and an alternating focus on interpersonal relationships and the personal inner monologue of the lead character. At times joyous and at others heartbreaking, it always feels like it has its fingers on the pulse of the human condition. Weaving the personal with the undeniable political realities of colonialism this is a film that addresses the space where the two intersect.

Makes its point Then underlines it. Then italicizes it. Then bold-faces it. Then shouts "Hey! This is my point!" And manages to do it without being very eventful.

At first glance seems trite, cliche and even boring, but gets under your skin as you think about it. A testament to body as protest, with added anger since bigotry here occurs solely on basis of color.

...how have I NEVER RATED THIS UNTIL NOW

An intimate, understated story that makes manifest larger part-colonial issues, particularly about the personal toll and latent effects of the institutionalized exploitation of colonized peoples. It's stark and naturalistic but quietly wistful in the style of Satyajit Ray, with the impassioned philosophizing of the French New Wave. Of course, the film's greatest impact is that it realizes the very thing that colonialism took from the Africans it oppressed: their ability to represent themselves.

korkunç kurgu ve oyunculuklar güzelim filmi patates etmiş. yoksa değinmeye çalıştığı durum ve çölaltı afrikası'ndan böylesi bir deneme çıkması çok önemli. edit: aylar sonra kıyamadım 70 yaptım

a "minor cinema" in deleuzeian terms because it turns a nouvelle vague looking film into an anti-colonial feminist character study. over voice doesn't eroticize the woman but gives us her hidden sorrows. last scene is a haunting one like of "400 Blows". But still it needs some more complex characters.

A remarkably dense text that hits you over the head quite hard, but also has subtleties that are probably more important to register.

Obviously dated but not ineffective critique of colonial power and how it intersects with both passive and active forms of resistance. The pervasive voiceover somehow manages to work, highlighting the main character's isolation from her immediate surroundings, and Sembene's unfussy 'naturalistic' style complements the material. It's an important film for African cinema, but I can't see the case for its greatness. It's far too simple to warrant the praise bestowed on it.

Imperialism leaves behind germs of rot which we must clinically detect and remove from our land but from our minds as well.

Dull as dirt, a really disappointing introduction to Sembene. Its heart is in the right place, but as a film it contains virtually nothing of interest, with bland and uninspiring technique, stiff actors portraying one-note characters, blunt and obvious themes, clumsy expository narration and an obnoxious, incongruous musical score. Only an hour and yet still a chore to get through. The ending tragedy was somewhat compelling, but not enough to make this worthwhile.

"Decolonization in Black Girl is not only a myth, but also a myth that actually strengthens the consumerist caste systems." - Eric Henderson

As dull and flat as any New Wave picture, despite the message it's trying to express.

An excellent film about the internalization of colonial propaganda and its devastating effect on one's psyche.

Sembene displays a great sense for cinema (some beautiful framing and careful pacing), but it is evident that he doesn't have a cinematic education by looking at some technical glitches and especially his naively liberal use of V/O. In fact, it's so unabashed that he makes it an integral part of his style, and a device that usually seems cheap becomes totally convincing in this case. It's also evident that Sembene is a writer. "Black Girl" is such a truthful and poignant little tragedy.

Powerful final story beat and haunting final image lingers on and makes one double back on everything preceding. Highly recommend the Criterion visual essay on use of language in the film - something I wouldn’t have caught otherwise that adds to the impact of the story.

This movie is very strong in its imagery and message. The beautifully crisp black-and-white scenes have a subdued way of carrying a story. In fact, I think that is why the ending caught me so much off-guard,. The characters themselves could have had more depth, but could be that it's just a way of conveying two different sides of colonialism and it requires some amount of more straightforward characterizing.

Far too bland looking to be considered in the same pantheon of New Wave classics. The point it’s trying to make is not only more than obvious, but married to - from a technical perspective - a poorly executed and acted story that feels twice as long as its modest 58 minutes running time. Thematically significant or not, your movie sucks.

Ousmane Sembene #1

Very spare but powerful filmmaking. Doesn't go super deep into characterisation but works in an essentialist way. Very successful in portraying the life experience of its protagonist with simple juxtaposition of images and voice over. Impossible not to feel her pain and sense of captivity along with the tragedy of the exploitative cultural relations.

Another reviewer stated, "At first glance seems trite, cliche and even boring, but gets under your skin as you think about it." However, I think they only got the first part right

Take the money and run!

The mechanics and performances of the film are stiff as all hell, but considering this was Sembene's first 'feature', it still manages to tell a very compelling and tragic story in under an hour. Films are hard to make, even more so when you're trying to make them in a place that doesn't yet have a strong cinematic identity. Black Girl is worth a watch for the history alone.

An honest portrayal of neocolonialism by an inspiring personality called Ousmane Sembene.

In a world where Best Picture winners in literally the last five years still have such a childish view of racism it’s great to see a movie that’s so old that presents a more realistic view of what it actually looks like in this kind of situation. However, outside of an excellent last few scenes the execution is lacking with the white lady being far too one-note and no scenes where Diouana even tries to stand up for herself at least ask to go outside once before monologuing about being a prisoner

A great compacted piece that re-invokes everything I just experienced (with 'Freeway'). For me, the culmination of this tragedy feels a bit like a writer's trope deployed naively. There is hard-edged social realism, which escalates towards a heightened, perhaps over-emphasised pathos. Remains an important, sympathetic portrait.

While Black Girl is a difficult and at times harrowing film to watch, it is also a powerful and affecting work of art. Director Ousmane Sembène offers a complex and nuanced critique of colonialism and racism, and his portrayal of Diouana is both empathetic and unflinching. The film's stylistic influences from the French New Wave give it a fresh and dynamic feel, and its themes and message remain just as relevant today as they were in 1966.

Pithy and polemic. Kind of blunt but effective.

My score reflects enjoyment rather than its rating as a work of art. Interesting film

Watched it twice in a couple of days and let me tell you this: The more you think about the movie, the more disturbing it becomes. The relations between white and black, France and (post-colonial) Senegal are interwoven in the most twisted kind of ways. The French couple need Diouana as a slave and as a body of desire. She's there to serve the imagination which is still there after Senegal's independence. "Black Girls" seems a bit stiff or dry at first, but it pulls a punch for sure.

Disturbing portrait of new forms of slavery in postcolonialism. She starts as a babysitter, but everything goes south when the French family moves back home and she finds herself with multiple chores, from cooking to washing to taking care of kids and actually being nice to everyone -- meaning white racists that visit the house. She works and goes to bed. Is that life? Of course not. But that leads to intense suffering, with no place to escape. Last 15 minutes are brutal.

Afrika, senegal, fransa, göç, issizlik, hizmetçi, intahar (finalde), bakici, sikinti, iç konuşma (issizlik yüzünden senegal'den fransaya giden senagalli bir kadinin hikayesi aktariliyor. Filmin genelinde kadinin bunalmisligi ve iç konuşmalari var.)

Reminiscent of Pather Panchali with the perpetual music setting the mood, this is a simplistic film questioning domestic help as modern slavery, but it could also apply to a broader "be careful what you wish for" moral tale. I usually like films with a little more characterization or plot, but if I were making movies, I'd be pretty proud of this as a debut.

when she refuses to work, locks herself in the bathroom, leaves her shoes on the floor, ,

Em honra do dia da consciência negra. Jesus, como eu odeio gente branca. Sério, são séculos de falta de noção aqui exemplificados fielmente, puta conto bom sobre o colonialismo entranhado. BluRayRip no MakingOff.

nisan 2011, 30. ist film fest &

The racial issues covered in Hollywood movies like In the Heat of the Night (made a year after this, which I love), focusing on more overt racism, are a lot less complex in their messaging than Black Girl, which is about colonization about as much as race. This film is more interested in the (sometimes unintentional) racism of institutions and "normal" people who probably think there's not a racist bone in their body, rather than people who had might as well be wearing KKK hoods. Well done.