Starring: Voice of Lucrece Hougbelo
Distributor: Rialto Distribution
Runtime: 68 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2025
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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The kingdom of Dahomey was part of present-day Benin. This documentary focuses on Benin’s attempts to recover its cultural heritage.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the colonial powers took/stole art and artefacts from nations under their control and transferred them to the galleries of Europe. In this case, it was France who took the artefacts to Paris. Now, in the 21st-century, several, though not all, of these artefacts have been returned to Benin. This is the story of 26 items taken from galleries, packed and stored, transported to the home country and welcomed by joyful citizens.
To that extent, this film is a plea for the restoration of culture, a recognition of the claims of former colonial countries, a challenge to those past colonial powers. What makes this film different, even to its winning the top prize, the Golden Bear, at the Berlinale, 2024, is the style that its writer-director, Diop, brings to her film. And the style varies throughout the film.
One aspect that might disturb viewers is the fact that the director seems to delight in long, very long takes, making more active audiences somewhat agitated, wanting the film to move on. And, some of the objects of the long takes seem particularly abstract rather than realistic – ie, white walls, spaces in the walls, time to ponder.
Another creative device is to focus on the last of the objects to be brought home, identified as number 26. And, in the film, number 26 has a voice, talking about the experience of capture, exhibition, the possibilities of returning, as if the artwork was a person – reflective, confiding. This brings a different perspective to the return of the artworks and what they mean in themselves as well as what they mean to the local people.
When the objects return home, there are various discussions, especially among younger people, about the artworks, their cultural and religious backgrounds, the transition in perspectives about them from the 19th century to the 21st-century. The film ends with a focus on life in Benin, 21st-century style, international, modern, a contrast to the world in which the artefacts were made.
The film has notched up more than 60 award nominations and wins.
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