Little Senegal (2001)

Director:

Rachid Bouchareb

Writers:

Rachid Bouchareb (writer)
Olivier Lorelle (writer)

Release Date:

18 April 2001 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Ancestral Heritage | Uncle Nephew Relationship | Journey | Harlem New York City | 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

Also Known As:

Little Senegal (Spain) [es]
Pikku-Senegal (Finland) (TV title) [fi]

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

A French film in America

When you write a story worth telling, you must do so. This one is a superbly written piece of literature and cinematography. Set in New York, mainly, Little Senegal is a compassionate, crude and compelling story about love.

Maybe many would disagree with the idea of love when most layers on this film seem to be about hatred and senselessness. But even when these very negative subjects are clearly portrayed on film, the basic force that moves it is love. A love so deep that can endure mostly anything. The love of someone who wants to know. A man in a search that he won't let go, 'til its very end.

This film has been called counter-Hollywood. I think it's just a French-Senegalese-German film that, -as most film-making in the world, is not counter-Hollywood, it's just pure cinema, where all the flashiness and predictable stupidity seen in most American films is simply not even considered.

This film is a triumph in showing the terrible change that actually happens every day in American society. The dark side -a very broad one, of its "Dream". A life that is no dream for millions. Something most Americans wouldn't even consider a possibility in their country. Something pretty well kept by the current Administration (2008) and prosecuted as crime (illegal immigrants), when it is a reality that has made the US what is now.

This film left me thinking about many things (you can see the twin towers in winter, against the sky, from a grave) that have happened since 2001, when this film was premiered.

Incosistent lives. Weird calls from politicians to their country to keep it safe. Alienating policies. Building a wall that may be the most degrading act since Berlin's Wall and the new Wall of Jerusalem.

This is not a documentary, but it is well documented. And it's only about the lives of a few people, but it represents a huge amount of "others" who embraced the motto ("The American Dream") and fell into its fangs, unaware that it would change their lives from the inside.

It's a fact I lived many times, a fact we see every day, but a fact we don't want to look at, because it makes us feel guilty.

Acting is spot-on, cinematography is what cinematography should always be: a medium to convey the story to the viewer, and on this film, it's plainly brilliant. One of the most exhilarating qualities of this film is the way sound is mixed: most of the time its direct sound is so forceful that you actually "feel" the weather. The soundtrack is outstanding and it comes in handy many times to play a character on its own.

Watch this film, you won't be disappointed. Be ready to cringe and cry.