Adanggaman

Plot

Blending historical fact with African legend, this film takes an unusual look at the effects of the slave trade, exploring the complicity of African rulers in this crime against human dignity. In West Africa in the 17th century, King Adanggaman (Rasmane Ouedraogo) has aligned himself with slave traders from Europe, ordering tribes of Amazons to attack unfriendly villages and set their homes on fire. When the villagers attempt to escape, the slavers kidnap the Africans and send them away to be sold. Ossei (Ziable Honore Goore Bi) is a young man whose village has so far been spared, but when he refuses to wed the daughter of an important family, instead taking the hand of the woman he loves, he sets off a chain of events culminating in a raid on his home and the abduction of his mother (Albertine N'Guessan). Ossei vows to steal his mother back to freedom, enlisting the help of one of the Amazon raiders, Naka (Mylene-Perside Boti Kouame), whose own abduction as a child allows her sympathy for her victims. Adanggaman received its North American premiere at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival, where it was shown as part of the "Planet Africa" series. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Review

Some may consider Adanggaman controversial because of its subject matter, but it's also a fairly engrossing drama about a man, Ossei (Ziable Honore Goore Bi), who faces a series of difficult circumstances. We see early in the film that Ossei refuses to submit to an arranged marriage despite a beating by his fellow villagers for his intransigence; he is a strong-willed and somewhat impetuous person who has fought for his freedom even before his first encounter with slave traders. The film is told mostly from his perspective, so the audience shares his anger and sense of moral outrage toward his opponents and particularly toward King Adanggaman (Rasmane Ouedraogo), the greedy, dictatorial slave trader who reaped the profits of the raid on Ossei's village. The film's plot isn't particularly complex and its pace isn't particularly fast, but the story is told in a reasonably compelling manner, particularly in the first two-thirds of the movie. The acting is first-rate, including a noteworthy performance by Albertine N'Guessan as Ossei's mother Mo Akassi; the warm, radiant photography conveys the humanity of the enslaved villagers while the long shots and long takes of their forced marches effectively convey their degradation; and the combination of well-chosen silence, natural ambient sound, and Lokua Kanzi's affecting djembe, kalimba, and chant score effectively underpins the brutality that's depicted onscreen. While Adanggaman tugs at the audience's heartstrings on a few occasions, the movie is a lot less melodramatic and sentimental than it could have been; indeed, one reason why the film's depiction of slavery is so disturbing is because it is so matter of fact. Unfortunately, the movie loses some of its narrative momentum once Ossei enlist's Naka's (Mylene-Perside Boti Kouame) assistance. Also, Roger Gnoan M'Bala deserves credit for addressing the complicity of Africans in the slave trade, but he doesn't raise a lot of complex moral issues beyond pointing out this historical fact; there's no doubt that slavery is bad, Adanggamon is an evil person, and Ossei's goal of freeing his mother is noble. Adanggamon may have been more interesting if the latter part of the film had explored another aspect of the slave trade, such as the social conditions in West Africa that led to slavery or the relationship between the African traders and their European clients. Instead, the filmmakers settled for a somewhat simplistic approach to the topic. It's still a fairly compelling film, however. ~ Todd Kristel, Rovi

Cast

• Rasmane Ouedraogo - King Adanggaman
• Ziable Honore Goore Bi - Ossei
• Albertine N'Guessan - Ossei's Mother
• Mylene-Perside Boti Kouame - Naka
• Bintou Bakayoko

Nicole Suzis Menyeng; Mireille Andree Boti; Tie Dijian Patrick; Lou Nadege Blagone; Anastasie Tode Bohi; Didier Grandidier

Credit

Ahissatou Traore - Costume Designer, Giorgio Garini - First Assistant Director, Roger Gnoan M'Bala - Director, Monica Goux - Editor, Lokua Kanza - Composer (Music Score), Mohammed Soudani - Cinematographer, Tiziana Soudani - Producer, Jean-Pierre Fénié - Sound/Sound Designer, Roger Gnoan M'Bala - Screenwriter, Jean-Marie Adiaffi - Screenwriter, Bertin Akaffou - Screenwriter

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