Little Senegal (2001)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Rachid Bouchareb

Writers:

Rachid Bouchareb (writer)
Olivier Lorelle (writer)

Release Date:

18 April 2001 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Green Card | Journey | Widow | Senegalese | Slavery Museum

Awards:

9 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Sotigui Kouyaté	...	Alloune
Sharon Hope	...	Ida
Roschdy Zem	...	Karim
Karim Traoré	...	Hassan (as Karim Koussein Traoré)
Adetoro Makinde	...	Amaralis
Adja Diarra	...	Biram
Malaaika Lacario	...	Eileen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Deen Badarou	...	Mohammed - Cab Driver
Ismail Bashey	...	Foreman
Will Blagrove	...	Karim's friend (as William Blagrove)
Eloi Cloy	...	Curator
Toy Connor	...	Girl
Daryl Edwards	...	Customer
Ron C. Jones	...	Westley
Ahmed Ben Larby	...	Shop Owner
Frank Mayers	...	Syd
David Langston Smyrl	...	Landlord
Ankhasanamen Stone	...	American Woman
Moctar Teyeb	...	Imam
Cheryl L. Williams	...	American Woman

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

Algeria | France | Germany

Language:

Wolof | English | French | Arabic

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Australia:M | France:U | Spain:13 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Company:

3B Productions

very honest, modest, counter-Hollywood style and held-back film

Little Senegal has this very sparse style, about a Senegalese man searching for the descendants of his enslaved family, 300 years later. Especially the beginning of the film, with all the old white Southerners is reminiscent of the Golden Age of American cinema, the Seventies ('They shoot horses, don't they?', 'Lolly-Madonna' etc.)

It's so refreshing to watch a film and not hear a constant jitter of back ground music, aiming for music-CD sales. I guess that 75 percent of this film doesn't have ANY music whatsoever. This film respects the viewer, and doesn't waste time with showing scenes that aren't really necessary. In your average Hollywood flic, you would have seen scenes that would be about the main characters not understanding each other, and conflict-scenes. Not so in this one. We jump from scene to scene, while everybody harmonically agrees.

In the middle of the film, Alloune (Sotigui Kouyaté) finds happiness with Ida (Shareon Hope). It's maybe unkind to say, but he looks a lot worse when he's happy and he has a big smile.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks that this film is a gem, NINE WINS? Well done.