''The Human Pyramid'' (french: La Pyramide humaine) is a 1961 Ivorian

docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) and ...

film directed by

Jean Rouch Jean Rouch (; 31 May 1917 – 18 February 2004) was a French filmmaker and anthropologist. He is considered one of the founders of cinéma vérité in France. Rouch's practice as a filmmaker, for over 60 years in Africa, was characterized b ...

. Rouch forced black African and white French students to improvise interactions with each other at an integrated high school in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...

Plot

Rouch took the title of his film from a poem by the Surrealist

Paul Eluard Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. In

in newly-independent

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, the film sees a mixed-race

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

class in which the filmmaker asks why white and black students do not mix together socially after class. They are interviewed separately and together, and are shown in their home environments and meeting together socially. They also improvise scenes of fantasized events. Racial tensions intensify when a new female student from Paris starts dating an African student. The film is both

ethnofiction Ethnofiction refers to a subfield of ethnography which produces works that introduces art, in the form of storytelling, "thick descriptions and conversational narratives", and even first-person autobiographical accounts, into peer-reviewed academi ...

and a documentary account of making ethnofiction:Graham Jones
A Diplomacy of Dreams: Jean Rouch and Decolonization
''American Anthropologist'', Vol. 107, No. 1 (March 2005), pp.118–120. counterposed to the main plot of the relation between the two racial groups is a subplot, which is the effect on the student actors of the making of the film itself.

Production

''La Pyramide humaine'' was made on 16 mm

Eastmancolor Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak. Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was on ...

film in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The production of ''La pyramide humaine'', between summer 1959 and spring 1960, coincided with the climax of independence movements across French-speaking Africa: fifteen African colonies claimed independence from France between September 1958 and October 1960.

Reception

The film was banned by colonial authorities through most of Francophone Africa. Richard I. Suchenski notes that by ending the film with the (fictional)

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

of one of the students "Rouch forces the viewers to re-evaluate what they have just seen, drawing attention both to the inevitable presence of fictional tendencies within even the most uncontrolled filmmaking situation."

François Truffaut François Roland Truffaut ( , ; ; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic. He is widely regarded as one of the founders of the French New Wave. After a career of more tha ...

places ''La Pyramide humaine'' among a group of films that "correspond to the new novel and those that aspire to be sociological documents or testimonies."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Human Pyramid, The Films directed by Jean Rouch 1961 films Ivorian drama films Films set in Ivory Coast Films shot in Ivory Coast French docudrama films Docufiction films Films about racism Abidjan Documentary films about high school 1960s high school films Ivorian documentary films 1960s French films