ATLANTICS/ ATLANTIQUE

Senegal, 2019, 104 minutes, Colour.
Mame Bineta Sane, Amidou Mbow, Ibrahima Traore, Aminata Kane.
Directed by Mati Diop.

This film won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes, 2019, the first film for from a black female director in the Festival. The film was also the Senegalese nominee for the 2019 Oscars.

The film captures the atmosphere of Senegal, the city of Dakar, 21st-century advancement, the traditions from previous ages, class distinctions, rich and poor, labourers exploited. The focus of this is the building of a giant tower in Dakar, the entrepreneur and his not paying the wages of his workers, their rebelling, taking to the Atlantic to find a better place.

The film is also a love story and a story about an arranged marriage. The central character is Ada, in love with one of the workers, Souleiman. However, she is engaged to a wealthy man. She experiences the loss of Souleiman as he sets out to sea. And the marriage bed is set alight.

The film is also a ghost story, the men drowning at sea, the returning, Souleiman himself entering into the detective who is appointed to investigate the arson case. Ada has a final encounter with Souleiman in the form of the detective – and the entrepreneur is tormented by the ghosts until he provides graves in which they can rest.

1. The impact of the film? Critical acclaim? From Senegal? African director? Female director?

2. The city of Dakar, an African city, modern, the traditions, the poor? The building of the tower? The treatment of the workers? Class issues? Crime issues?

3. The romantic aspects of the plot? The spirits and ghosts?

4. The Atlantic Ocean, the coast of Senegal, the workers taking refuge, then drowning?

5. Ada, her place in the city, the engagement to the wealthy builder, her love for Souleiman, his work on the building, his going to see Ada, her grief? The marriage, the burning of the marriage bed? The young detective? His investigations? His mysterious illness?

6. Souleiman, as a character, work, with the men, the decision to go to see, the experience on sea, their deaths?

7. The themes of spirits, the return from the dead, restless? Inhabiting the living? Souleiman and his inhabiting the detective? Ada’s friend, phantom, her illness?

8. The detective and his investigation, his being inhabited by Souleiman, his discovery that Souleiman, in him, had set the bed on fire?

9. Ada, the final night with Souleiman, in the form of the detective?

10. The builder, the ghosts threatening him, with the burning of the tower? The need for the graves to bury the dead?

11. A film in itself – but is expressive of Senegalese culture and traditions?