The fight of the black queen
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The fight of the black queen |
| Original title | Sarraounia |
| Country of production | Burkina Faso , Mauritania , France |
| original language |
Dioula Fulfulde French |
| Publishing year | 1986 |
| length | 120 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Med Hondo |
| script | Med Hondo Abdoulaye Mamani Abdoul War |
| production | Med Hondo |
| music |
Pierre Akendengué Abdoulaye Cissé Issouf Compaore |
| camera | Guy Famechon |
| cut | Marie-Thérèse Boiché |
| occupation | |
| |
The fight of the black queen (original title: Sarraounia ) is a Burkinabe - Mauritanian - French period film by the director Med Hondo from 1986 . It is based on the historical novel Sarraounia. Le drame de la reine magicienne by Abdoulaye Mamani .
action
It was the last years of the 19th century: As a girl, Sarraounia was being prepared for her future role as queen in Lougou , Africa , and was learning the arts of war and magic. A few years later, as a respected young queen, she is surrounded by a large court, including a griot who proclaims her fame in songs. Sarraounia is unmarried. She also ends the relationship with her lover when he questions her authority in military matters.
Meanwhile, the ugly French Capitaine Voulet and his army, in which many Africans also serve, are about to subdue this part of Africa for France. They plunder the villages, commit many atrocities and get closer and closer to Lougou. Sarraounia decides to oppose the column.
There is a military conflict. The warriors of Lougou employ various strategies such as ambush, retreat and direct battle. Sarraounia cheers on her fighters with speeches in which she emphasizes the shame of slavery and the importance of resistance. Their ranks are joined by men and women from other villages whose warriors had already submitted to Capitaine Voulet's army. Sarraounia returns to her palace in triumph and will continue to fight the invaders.
background
Paul Voulet
Julien Chanoine
The Battle of Lougou between the Sarraounia ( Hausa : "Queen") Mangou and the French mission Voulet-Chanoine is a historic event that took place in 1899. The Sarraounia lost the battle and had to flee while the Voulet-Chanoine mission continued.
The Battle of the Black Queen is a film adaptation of the historical novel Sarraounia. Le drame de la reine magicienne by the writer Abdoulaye Mamani. The politically active author was imprisoned in 1976 at the instigation of Nigerien President Seyni Kountché and published the novel after his release in 1980. Mamani gave the book to his friend, the film director Med Hondo, who decided to make a film out of it. It took seven years to complete the film, on which Mamani also worked as a screenwriter. The fight of the black queen should originally have been filmed in Niger, the historical location, but this was thwarted under circumstances that were never entirely clear. Possible reasons for this are the ambivalent assessment of the author Abdoulaye Mamani on the part of the political elite and their fear of angering the former colonial power France with such a film. President Kountché initially had a school in Dosso named after Sarraounia, but when Med Hondo and his film team came to Niger to film the film, Kountché bowed to political pressure and had them deported. At a reception, Med Hondo met the Burkinabe President Thomas Sankara , whom he knew from his time as Secretary of State for Culture and who offered him to shoot the film in Burkina Faso.
The Burkinabe leading actress Aï Keïta was an amateur actor who later starred in films by other directors. The traditional film music was composed by Abdoulaye Cissé , who worked with traditional instruments such as the kora and also appeared in the film as a griot, while the modern music was composed by Pierre Akendengué from Gabon . Med Hondo tried to make sure that the film crew came from as many different regions of Africa as possible.
The budget of the film shot in CinemaScope was three million francs . The cost of the reconstruction of the Sarraounia palace alone amounted to around one million francs. The successor to the Sarraounia Mangou, who only resides in a hut, advised the filmmakers on architectural details of the palace, which was destroyed in 1899 by the Voulet-Chanoine mission. Med Hondo handed the replica, which had been erected around twenty kilometers east of Bobo-Dioulasso , to the government of Burkina Faso after filming was finished as a reminder of the historic Sarraounia and its film.
reception
The fight of the black queen was shown at the FESPACO film festival , where it was enthusiastically received by the African audience and awarded the main prize. In France, the film was only shown in five cinemas instead of 14, as originally agreed with the film distributor , and was taken off the program after just two weeks. Several French artists and intellectuals, including the director Costa-Gavras , felt this was censorship due to the unpleasant subject and protested against it, but without success. In other countries, The Struggle of the Black Queen was only shown in limited screenings, including at the Berlinale Forum in 1987. For Med Hondo, who was also the producer of the film, the lack of cinema income meant personal financial bankruptcy.
Awards
- Étalon de Yennenga, FESPACO 1987
Web links
- The struggle of the black queen in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Jean-Dominique Pénel: Abdoulaye Mamani. Another strange destiny . In: Tydskrif vir Letterkunde . No. 42/2, 2005, p. 143.
- ↑ Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike: Questioning African Cinema. Conversations With Filmmakers . University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 2002, ISBN 0-8166-4005-X , pp. 69 .
- ↑ Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike: Questioning African Cinema. Conversations With Filmmakers . University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 2002, ISBN 0-8166-4005-X , pp. 62 .
- ↑ Bertrand Taithe: The Killer Trail. A Colonial Scandal in the Heart of Africa . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2009, ISBN 978-0-19-923121-8 , pp. 222 f.
- ↑ a b Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike: Questioning African Cinema. Conversations With Filmmakers . University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 2002, ISBN 0-8166-4005-X , pp. 63 .
- ^ Françoise Pfaff: Sarraounia: An Epic of Resistance. Interview with Med Hondo . In: Kenneth W. Harrow (Ed.): With Open Eyes. Women and African Cinema . Editions Rodopi, Amsterdam / Atlanta 1997, ISBN 90-420-0154-2 , pp. 152-153.
- ↑ Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike: Questioning African Cinema. Conversations With Filmmakers . University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 2002, ISBN 0-8166-4005-X , pp. 70 .
- ↑ Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike: Questioning African Cinema. Conversations With Filmmakers . University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 2002, ISBN 0-8166-4005-X , pp. 63-64 .
- ^ 1987 program , Berlinale website, accessed on March 21, 2012.
- ↑ Jean-Dominique Penel: Abdoulaye Mamani. Another strange destiny . In: Tydskrif vir Letterkunde . No. 42/2, 2005, p. 144.