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An Analysis Of Pieces D Identites, And Aesthetics Of African Cinema

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African cinema has certain aesthetics and politics that differ from cinema within the United States. The politics and aesthetics of African film tends to reference themes of liberation, self identity and allegories referring to colonialism. Three films that were viewed in class this year that display each of these politics are Lumumba, Pieces D'Identites, and Afrique, Je Te Plumerai. The first politic and aesthetic African films tend to reference the most is liberation. A good example of a film that shows this politic is the film Lumumba directed by Raoul Peck. This film was released in 2001 and is about the life of the former prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba. The film examines the liberation of the …show more content…

A good example of a film viewed during this semester with this aesthetic is Afrique, Je Te Plumerai. This film was released in 1992 and directed by Jean Marie Teno. This film is about the history of the west African country of Cameroon. This film starts with the first contact the area which would become Cameroon had with European missionaries, to German and French colonialism, and finally to present day and how the colonialism affected the people of Cameroon. This uses allegories for colonialism through showing how the literature taught in schools and most of the books in the libraries are by White authors and that they have very little literature by Black authors taught in schools or displayed in libraries. Also the name of the film “Afrique, Je Te Plumerai” means “Africa, I Pluck You”. This is an allegory of how colonialism has plucked all of the Cameroonian history from the people and has replaced it with European history. This aesthetic would never be used in a Hollywood film due to the fact that the United States is a country that goes around attacking and colonizing other countries for their natural resources and to build an empire. Hollywood actually makes films with the complete opposite of this aesthetic where the film its film is about how invading other countries and killing people made U.S. soldiers sad. All in all African films have completely different politics and aesthetics than films made in the U.S. The film Lumumba shows the politics of liberation. The film Pieces D’Identities shows the aesthetics of self identity. The film Afrique, Je Te Plumerai shows the aesthetics of allegories of colonialism. In conclusion Hollywood would not dare to touch the politics nor aesthetics of these films due to Hollywood’s prejudices and other

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