How is Dahomey, winner of best film at the Berlin Film Festival: in search of identity

Until a few years ago, documentaries did not make it to class A film festivals, such as Cannes, Venice or Berlin. They were like a niche. But since then Bowling for Columbine: a country in arms it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Oscar for best documentary – by the way, does anyone know what its director is up to? Michael Moore?-, non-fiction works are usually in programs and also in official competitions.

Here’s why it shouldn’t have been so surprising Dahomey compete for the Golden Bear this year in Berlin. And, looking at Mati Diop’s film, it’s no surprise that she won it.

Before streaming on MUBI, this film premiered in some Argentine theaters.

Dahomey tells how, in 2021, 26 archaeological pieces, royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey, were returned from museums in Paris to their place of origin, the Republic of Benin, in West Africa.

But what really matters is the reclamation, the settling of accounts against colonialism which has appropriated not only these 26 pieces, but almost 7,000…

It was when, around 1892, French troops confiscated these treasures after the outbreak of war with the Kingdom of Dahomey.

The French Diop, already awarded for her debut film, Atlanticat Cannes 2019, gives a twist to the narrative, which can seem new or ridiculous, depending on the viewer’s tastes. Gives voice to one of the objects. It is a statue carved in wood and metal, with a hoarse voice, which tells us about his transfer and what followed. As if it were a “real” ghost. And the director, at times, even tells the documentary from the point of view of the statue: so, from inside, we “see” how they lock us in a wooden box.

Bugs that may not be fixable

The statue is known as “26,” as each of the treasures is numbered. And we see how the “mistake” is repaired, with the white French keeping it in the box, which is opened and handled by black workers in Benin…

And if what mattered was the claim itself, what can we say about the debate in the community that hosts the relics? The positions of the many young people who took part in the heated meeting were very dissimilar. There are those who look at the return with optimism, but are confronted with those who assure that the damage to their culture is irreparable, even more so when it is not known when, if ever, the almost 7,000 treasures still preserved will be returned. French territory.

Diop, with his camera, does not judge but accompanies and observes. And the film ends up opening up, encouraging dialogue and warning or questioning us about our identity, or how colonialism affects the future inhabitants of the now free lands.

“Dahomey”

Documentary Benin / France / Senegal, 2024. 68′, Suitable for all audiences. From: Mati Diop. With: Gildas Adannou, Morias Agbessi, Maryline Agbossi. Rooms: Sala Leopoldo Lugones and Cinema Arte Cacodelphia.