A documentary derives its essential effect through its filmic depiction of that purest effecter of emotion, the naked truth; hence, the more this truth is colored by unsatisfactory directorial interpretation and artifice, the more its potency is lost to banality. Mati Diop’s Dahomey is weakened by its imperfect balance between an impartial portrayal of events and an artistic yet artificially distorting expression of Diop’s view on the subject.
Continue reading “Review: ‘Dahomey’: A Mediocre Exploration of Colonial Restitutions”