Credited cast: | |||
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Oumarou Ganda | ... | Robinson (Narrator) |
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Gambi | ... | Dorothy Lamour |
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Petit Touré | ... | Eddie Constantine |
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Alassane Maiga | ... | Tarzan |
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Amadou Demba | ... | Elite |
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Seydou Guede | ... | Le facteur |
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Karidyo Faoudou | ... | Petit Jules |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
Jean Rouch | ... | Narrator |
"I, a Negro" depicts young Nigerien immigrants who left their country to find work in the Ivory Coast, in the Treichville quarter of Abidjan, the capital. These immigrants live in squalor in Treichville, envious of the bordering quarters of The Plateau (the business and industrial district) and the old African quarter of Adjame. The film traces a week in these immigrants' lives, blurring the line between their characters' routines and their own. Every morning, Tarzan, Eddy Constantine and Edward G. Robinson seek work in Treichville in hopes of getting the 20 francs that a bowl of soup costs them. They perform menial jobs as dockers carrying sacks and handy labor shipping supplies to Europe. At night, they drink away their sorrows in bars while dreaming about their idealized lives as their "movie" alter-egos, alternatively as an FBI Agent, a womanizing bachelor, a successful boxer, and even able to stand up to the white colonialists that seduce away their women. These dream-like ...
I was lent this film on video and was told that it was 'the first film of the French new wave', which is interesting because it's actually set in the ivory coast. It compensates its amateurish look and dubious acting through a very enjoyable and often amusing script and a relaxed yet intimate style. Revealing and engaging.