Borom sarret (1963) User Reviews

Can't get there from here

[ThurstonHunger · 8/10 · 27 May 2017]

The clash of the transportation and classes is sharply mapped out in this short. I watched this some time ago but just tonight viewing "Mandabi" by the same director reminded me of this film, which was literally driven by the main "actor" (he never appeared in anything else it seems, so maybe he really was a charioteer in un-reel life??).

His emotions on screen at the cemetery gate and in being soul serenaded, seem so authentic. His persistence in hitting the tracks and motivations to make the right move over making money, cannot help the viewer to root for him, when he finally gets what appears to be a big break. A rich powerful person offers him to help him out with an immense reward (i.e. similarities to Mandabi), the juxtaposition of their status, their clothing and even the physical forbidden aspect of the charioteer's home and the destination zone where he was to take his cart (I forget what the area was called, but it had that "gated community" without the visible gate feel).

Short and powerful.

Touching

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 31 March 2021]

A poor man struggles to make a living in Dakar via his horse drawn cart, which he uses for a taxi. We hear his inner thoughts as he wonders when people will pay him, and how he's going to make repairs to one of his wheels. It's 1963, just three years after Senegal was liberated from the French, and in one scene we see the Place de l'Obelisque that commemorates this fact. It should be a time of freedom and opportunity, and at one point we hear this optimistic sentiment:

"Who's singing the praises of my ancestors, those brave warriors of yesteryear? The same blood runs through my veins. Just because this new life has me working like a slave doesn't mean I'm any less noble than my ancestors."

However, we soon see that despite the withdrawal of the French, things haven't changed for the downtrodden, like this man. He's taken advantage of by a wealthy man, and a police officer leaves him in a very precarious state relative to how he's going to support his family. His sentiment changes:

"Yesterday was the same, and the day before that. We work for nothing. What'll I say at home? What will I say? How will I pay for my cart now? I might as well die!"

At just 18 minutes, it's not fleshed out, but director Ousmane Sembène left quite an impression with a film that feels like a wonderful short story. There is great power in the restraint of his ending too - we can use our imaginations, as the man will be doing, to think about what his wife will be off doing to feed the family.

The first real African movie

[frankde-jong · 7/10 · 18 April 2020]

In 1963 director Ousmane Sembene made this short (20 min), in 1966 followed by the feature length "Black girl" (65 min). "Black girl" is about discrimination, "Borom sarret" is about poverty. It is a kind of African Loach.

We meet a carter in Dakar who has mostly non paying clients. Some are too poor to pay, others are too lousy to pay. One of the last kind is a sharp dressed black man who wants a ride to the genteel district of the city.

The film is socially concious with comical undertones. It are the clients of the carter who keep the film lively, just as in "Night on earth" (1991, Jim Jarmusch).

Funny is the way the film makes use of music. Scenes in the poor part of town are accompanied by African music, scenes in the rich part of town are accompanied by European classical music. At the end of the film the carter concludes he feels more comfortable in his poor part of town.

Rocksolid

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 18 February 2016]

"Borom sarret" or "The Wagoner" is a Senegalese 20-minute black-and-white short film from almost 50 years ago. i read that this is seen as the first film ever made by a black filmmaker, but given the fact that Ousmana Sembene was already in his 40s when he made this one and made several other films before according to his IMDb filmography I am not too sure about that little fact. Anyway, the reason why I recommend his film here has nothing to do with first.timers anyway, but with this being a very solid 20-minute watch. The story is not particularly dramatic or edge-of-seat stuff, but it almost looks like a documentary instead. Make sure you get subtitles if you are not fluent in French. It's a very realistic depiction of everyday life in Senegal in my opinion. At least it looks that way. I cannot say I am particularly aware of what life in Senegal looked like back in the 1960s. Overall a thumbs-up and this one is worth checking out.

One of 3 African movies I've seen...

[will2000uk · 9/10 · 19 October 2000]

20 minutes long. Black and white. Focusing on one cart driver. Sounds pretty c**p, huh? Wrong! The film makes excellent satirical points on the class divide, as well as providing some excellent, if somewhat crude, camera work. However, it's depth puts many movies to shame.

Downtrodden in Dakar

[Cineanalyst · 6/10 · 20 February 2020]

Included in the same Criterion set as Ousmane Sembène's first feature film, "La Noire de..." ("Black Girl") (1966), this earliest short film by him may necessarily be a let down by comparison, but considering that it's credited as the first film ever made in Africa by a black African, it's an impressive production and beginning of Sembène's oeuvre. As in "Black Girl," "The Wagoner" is photographed in black and white and a crisp if relatively no-frills style, sound was added in post, and most of that is the internal monologue of the protagonist complaining how they feel like a slave and prisoner in their modern lives.

"The Wagoner" follows a horse-drawn cart driver through Dakar, as he's repeatedly not paid by passengers, gives what little money he does have to a panhandling singer, runs into trouble with a policeman for bringing his cart into the rich French quarter of the city and, ultimately upon his return home, wonders where his wife is wandering after she abandons him with the baby and in search of food. If this were a comedy, this hapless lead would be the stooge--the butt of a series of metropolitan jokes at his expense. Nothing goes his way, and he seemingly spends most of his day complaining in voiceover narration about it.

Besides the additional footage allowing more time to develop a narrative and postcolonial themes in "Black Girl," it also featured a plotline involving an African mask that both underscored the picture's social commentary and its own making. Art-within-art. "The Wagoner," on the other hand, moves as straightforward as the wagon. While engaging enough for a first film, it's evidently just that, as Sembène appears to be discovering a new world in film, and the spectator is just along for the ride.

A film that is supposed to tick you off!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 24 February 2015]

This film is included on the same DVD as "Black Girl"--another film from the Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene. And, like "Black Girl" it's a film with a strong African nationalist bent to it as the theme is about the exploitation of the poor by the established powers.

The film begins with a devout poor man preparing for a hard day's work scrounging for work with his makeshift wagon. He doesn't have enough money for lunch and he leaves his family behind. For a while, he does pretty well--well enough to feed his family and call it a good day. However, later his day goes from bad to worse to worse--all due to several jerks. While the bad guys in this one are black Africans since the colonial system had been abolished in Senegal for about a decade, these are guys who have bought into the new class system. In other words, while the white overlords might be gone or at least not in power, things just haven't changed for the little man. The ending of this film is interesting and my assumption is that despite this being a decent and respectable family that the man's wife is going to prostitute herself to feel everyone--though it is NOT stated explicitly. I'd love to know if you felt the same way.

Overall, this is a very simple film that is easy to see as an insignificant film. However, I see it as a strong protest against the same old system where the wealth and power are clearly not shared. Powerful and rather sad to watch.

"Protect me from infidels and the law"

[boblipton · 6/10 · 16 July 2020]

Ly Abdoulay has a horse -- played by Albourah, and a cart with a squeaky wheel .Every morning he gets up and goes downtown to look for work hauling around people and cinder blocks. Sometimes they pay him.

While he goes through his routines, he conducts an inner monologue of anger, fear and whining.. That's all of it in the course of this 18-minute short subject. You could argue that it's not a great movie -- and I do -- but it's an important movie because it is the first directed by Ousmane Sembene, and thus the first movie directed by a Black film maker in Africa.

According to the on-screen footnote presented at the beginning of this . . .

[cricket30 · 6/10 · 21 July 2020]

. . . cautionary tale, many reputable American organizations spent Big Bucks to restore it to a pristine, brand new condition. WHY were so many resources expended to resurrect this foreign fable in all of its former glory? The answer should be self-explanatory to anyone with around 20 minutes to spare. The featured wagon guy character is plying the dusty streets of his Homeland without so much as a BB gun with which he can protect himself, his property and his interests! Most of his customers are scofflaws, shirking payment of their fare. One nefarious jerk even manages to put this beleaguered transportation agent at the mercy of a spiteful cop, who confiscates his cart, forcing his wife to turn a trick for their supper. In recent years things have degenerated almost as much here in America, with the growing divide between those who can afford to pack plenty of firepower, and those who cannot. So please watch this warning alert, and then generously support your local chapter of BANGS (Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps)!