Film Review - Dahomey
Images courtesy of Rialto Distribution.
“The present-under-construction that is history.”
When detailing colonial legacies from a Western perspective, it is tempting to delineate a clean boundary between then and now. A society that has suffered the violence of colonialism is given little regard to the cultural impacts of theft over the economic. While there has been a growing movement of repatriation in the twenty-first century, it is rare to see altruistic action from former imperial nations without regard to their own interests. French Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop tackles the question of power in the critically acclaimed Dahomey, documenting the return of stolen artifacts to the Republic of Benin in 2021 and the myriad emotions raised in its advent.
From the first scene of Dahomey, Diop grounds a truth that the ancestral relics, both the twenty-six returned to Benin and those seven thousand still held in France, are as much part of the story as the present-day community. Their journey from the sterile, fluorescent lighting of a museum backroom to the shores of Porto-Novo reflect over a century of cultural destruction and pain. Every frame is crafted in a manner that can only be described as poetic, with a sacred tone to the return of the artifacts, reflecting their deep significance to the Beninese people. She implicitly challenges the framework of linear history by weaving the voices of the treasures throughout the documentary, and though it is spoken through the assigned object “26”, the musings of a homecoming can be attributed to all that has returned home.
The second half of Dahomey is a sudden departure from the catharsis felt in the treasures’ return to Benin. A debate filmed at the University of Abomey-Calavi interrogates the politics of repatriation, highlighting soft power, optics, and interests of foreign powers. One student asserts that “the simple fact of having to ask is the problem”, and this sentence encapsulates the contradictions of post-colonial amends. This rapid flip of tone between the first and second half of the film is intentional, because despite the deliverance of cultural materiel, France still leverages imperial power over Benin through the machinations of restitution. Allowing the debate to play out on screen without narrative interference, the parameters of true reconciliation are firmly established by Diop. Benin, and all other societies impacted by colonisation, cannot truly be liberated until their power can be fully reclaimed. Diop tackles this part of the film with deep care for the people portrayed and grants them full agency, setting the expectation for the wider movement.
Dahomey is a compelling narrative that underscores the legacy of a colonial past onto the present while demonstrating hope for a future shaped by the Beninese people. The documentary, having won accolades across the world at the Berlin International Film Festival, the Tokyo International Film Festival, and the European Film Awards, has clearly hit home in its messaging. Decolonisation is an ongoing process, and while cultural repatriation is a significant component, who holds the power in practice is just as critical to its realisation.
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Dahomey is screening in select cinemas now.