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 ...

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 ...

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesIvory Coast, in the

Treichville Treichville is a neighborhood in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is one of the 10 urban communes of the city. Treichville is one of four communes of Abidjan that are entirely south of Ébrié Lagoon, the others being Port-Bouët, Koumassi, and Marcory. ...

quarter of

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

, 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. These young immigrants are

Oumarou Ganda Oumarou Ganda (1935 – 1 January 1981) was a Nigerien director and actor who helped bring African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s. Life Ganda was born in Niamey, the capital of Niger, in 1935 and was of Djerma ethn ...

(portraying himself under the pseudonym of Edward G. Robinson, a nickname he adopts because of his idolization of the eponymous movie star), Petit Tourè (portraying himself as

Eddie Constantine Eddie Constantine (born Edward Israël Constantinowsky; October 29, 1917 – February 25, 1993) was an American singer, actor and entertainer who spent most of his career in France. He became well-known to film audiences for his portrayal of se ...

), Alassane Maiga (Tarzan), Amadou Demba (Élite), Seydou Guede (Postman), and Karidyo Daoudou (Petit Jules). 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 labour shipping supplies to Europe. At night, they drink away their sorrows in bars while dreaming about their idealised 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 sequences are shot in a poetic mode. Each day is introduced by an interstitial ''voice of god'' omniscient narration from

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 ...

, providing a universalist thematic distance to the movie’s events. The film is bookended by a narration directed at both Petit Jules and the audience from Edward G. Robinson fondly looking back on his childhood in Niger and concluding that his life is worthy of his dreams.

Filming

The filming process for ''Moi, un noir'' was rather idiosyncratic: Jean Rouch spent nine months amongst his ethnographic subjects and allowed them to tell their own story in a very personal way, inherently challenging the rules of the

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

. Jean Rouch did not go into this film with any particular idea, preferring to capture as much footage as possible in order to structure a narrative with his subjects. Many sequences in the film were captured by chance during long continuous shots. In making the movie, Jean Rouch was surprised as to how much his subjects were willing to disclose about their life’s dreams and aspirations, finding that his nimble camera offered him a passport into freedom, allowing him to navigate circles he hadn’t dreamt of integrating. Consequently, he brought his lightweight

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ed ...

Kodachrome Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used ...

camera into every social setting. After Jean Rouch and his subjects agreed that they had captured enough footage, they recorded the dialog in a studio in the

Musée de l'Homme The Musée de l'Homme (French, "Museum of Mankind" or "Museum of Humanity") is an anthropology museum in Paris, France. It was established in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne ...

in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

which he superimposed over ambient street noise recorded around

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

. These asynchronous sound effects born out of practical limitations helped contribute to the "dream-like" atmosphere of many sequences in the film.

Historical context

This film was released in the midst of the Nigerien decolonization movement, and carries with it an arguably strong indictment of the pervasive nature of the icons of Western culture on the African psyche. The movie's editing juxtaposes African depictions of Western traits around Treichville with their pervasive influence on the subjects' dream lives. As a Frenchman, Jean Rouch was acutely aware of the heavy cultural weight placed upon him in capturing life for Nigerien immigrants.

Criticism

While Jean Rouch let his African subjects present their own story, a number of his editing decisions remain controversial. He was accused of exploiting them and holding them under a microscope through his condescending camera lens. Furthermore, some of his collaborators found him too dictatorial in the editing process, in antithesis to his very open attitude while capturing footage. The editing decisions themselves also proved quite controversial. For instance, in the scene where Edward G. Robinson brags about his conquests with white women in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

to Élite, the film cuts to shots of the sterns of ships registered in the ports that he name-checks (such as

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

), corresponding to the shipments of sacks that they have just loaded in their menial jobs, suggesting that the character is being untruthful.

Legacy

The film was received with much acclaim and is heralded as influential in launching the French New Wave movement. It was awarded the 1958

Louis Delluc Prize The Louis Delluc Prize (french: Prix Louis-Delluc ) is a French film award presented annually since 1937. The award is bestowed to the Best Film and Best First Film of the year on the second week of each December. The jury is composed of 20 members, ...

.

Oumarou Ganda Oumarou Ganda (1935 – 1 January 1981) was a Nigerien director and actor who helped bring African cinema to international attention in the 1960s and 1970s. Life Ganda was born in Niamey, the capital of Niger, in 1935 and was of Djerma ethn ...

, who portrayed Edward G. Robinson in this film, went on to become one of Africa's seminal filmmakers. This film pioneered the use of evocative

jump cut A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which a single continuous sequential shot of a subject is broken into two parts, with a piece of footage being removed in order to render the effect of jumping forward in time. Camera positions of the subje ...

s and non-professional actors, two traits that Jean-Luc Godard would use to craft his film '' Breathless'' and shape the French New Wave. Godard argued that the film had reached "unprecedented levels of truth captured on film" in a March 1959 edition of the magazine ''Arts,'' and later ranked ''Moi, un Noir'' as his fourth favorite film of the year.

References

External links

* {{Jean Rouch 1958 drama films 1958 films Films directed by Jean Rouch Films set in Ivory Coast French drama films 1950s French-language films Louis Delluc Prize winners Ethnofiction films Films shot in Ivory Coast 1950s French films

Synopsis

Filming

Historical context

Criticism

Legacy

See also

References

External links