Popular reviews

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★ 2

  La noire de...
  The black girl of...
  what?
  whom?
  where?
  Nowhere.
  No one.
  Nothing.

  Or is "of" the most
  important word in the title?
  Is she the property of?
  Existing
  only to be exploited;
  only to be manipulated,
  abused, and destroyed?

  Something,
  but only in the
  form of nothing,
  only in the form
  of an object,
  a possession.

  La noire de...
  Nulle part;
  Personne;
  Rien.

  Postcolonial rage at its finest.

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  Review by laird ★★★★ 6

  "France is the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom and my bedroom.” In another movie it might seem hyperbolic to equate displacement to imprisonment and menial servitude to slavery, but with the point-of-view of the main character who has so brutally been stripped of her identity and her humanity by indifferent colonials, it seems a fair assessment. The case against the injustices of colonialism is so calmly laid out through several tiny moments and the subjective voice over that I found it effectively shocking when the simmer turns to a boil in the final moments.

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  Review by kailey 3

  the anger and oppression in here is mostly quiet. it simmers before it explodes. white supremacy manifests itself in subconscious gestures and daily cruelties just as much as in colonial rule. i felt just as constrained by that apartment as the protagonist.

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  Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★ 1

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  51/100

  Incredibly powerful ending (by which I mean the epilogue—husband bringing the mask to Dakar) achieves a haunting poetry that the body of the film lacks. Or perhaps it's more accurate to note that most of Black Girl falls into my personal blindspot regarding straightforward depictions of abuse/oppression/subjugation/etc. With few exceptions, there's just insufficient complexity in these scenarios for my taste, and while I can appreciate what a radical political statement this film was (and, sadly, to some extent still is), there's neither enjoyment nor illumination in watching someone get gradually beaten down to the point where she decides to cut her own throat. Sembène makes Diouana angrier and more openly defiant than a typical victim—even her suicide is essentially…

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  Review by Robert Beksinski ★★★★ 4

  A portrait of domestic slavery, of African fetishism, of class and race disparity. Diouana is treated in a subhuman manner, shown off at dinner parties as this token African prize, and then berated for not working hard enough at a job she never accepted to do in the first place. Her "mistress" complains about Diouana's mood and appearance equally, but conflicting in wanting her to be "appreciative" of her position and to also dress appropriately according to her class status. What it boils down to is living in poverty and living in this form of domestic slavery are one in the same. The only difference is when one works to survive in poverty, it is only for their sake and…

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  Review by Stephen Gillespie ★★★★★ 10

  Colonialism does not end with independence. When physical suppression ends, cultural suppression lingers on far longer - maybe forever. Once the myth of hierarchy has been sown, the damage is done. Black Girl shows this. Here, a young girl buys into the dream of France: the civilised world of better people, a place beyond what she knows.

  She's from Senegal, Dakar to be exact, picked up off of the street by a French family because - well - because she seemed the most submissive. He ability to be un-intrusive positions her where they want her, and symbolises what colonisers want from the colonised. So, she is picked up and brought back, full of joy at the prospect of employment -…

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  Review by Joshua Dysart ★★★★ 3

  The neocolonial prison of usury and dehumanization is more than a physical and economic confinement, its barb-wired walls surround the mind as well.

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  Review by Cinemonster ★★★★½

  The first sub-Saharan film to reach an international audience, Black Girl addresses racism and the legacy of colonialism in both Africa and Europe. For this film alone director Ousmane Sembene is one of the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, and his film shares that designation.

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  Review by C4rlo5 ★★★★

  Everyone talks about the American Dream, but… what about the French Dream of African people.

  This is an African movie which also works as a documentary, by exploring the way of living of an African girl who expects herself to be working for a French family as a nursery maid, but the last thing she waits for is it to be an employment relationship marked by slavery.

  Here we have a result of the colonization of Africa by France, and how this had repercussions over the years in situations like this, where the hierarchies are notable.

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  Review by {Todd} ★★★★

  "I'm a prisoner here" -Gomis Diouana,

  That's a powerful sixty minutes.

  Saying fuck you to racism and colonialism are priorities, along with a series of other messages about the human spirit, identity, and dignity. The film is beautifully made and simple but elegant. The score is lovely and the cinematography is gorgeous.

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★ 13

  After seeing my first Sembene film, I liked it somewhat, but apparently not enough to impress some purists. To be honest, I approached this in a somewhat immature way, and not with the intent to understand or learn, but rather to finish a list. But many here seem to like the director so much and put him on such a pedestal that I decided to try again.

  Well, as you can see, things turned out much better this time around. In his debut, the Franco-Senegalese director offers an examination of various issues that everyone, especially the black community and women, faces. The story revolves around a woman who longs for a better life than before, but upon arriving in big,…

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  Review by mary ★★★★ 2

  so beautiful and powerful. wish it was longer although so much was unpacked in 60 minutes