Sarraounia

Sarranouia is a historical drama about a sorcerer queen who used martial arts and clever witchcraft war tactics to defend her tribe in resistance to France. Directed by Med Hondo, this film incorporated a little bit of political documentary style filming as well as historical musicals. This film was different than I had expected to be, first walking into the theater. Filled with a lot of mise-en-scene throughout the film impacted its visual content. The costumes were very detailed and gave me a good image of this time period and African life. It is obvious the director did a lot of historical research and has a strong background of this happening and of Sarraounia, the queen of the Azna tribe. Assisting the tribe, it is entertaining, watching the whites be a minority, trying to lead a pack of hundreds of Africans in this war. This movie has a lot of good singing as well. Their singing and music gave me a feel of life in Africa. Adding to the mise-en-scene, there also is a lot of action throughout the movie. Coming in not knowing too much to expect from an African film, I really appreciated the detail and choreography of the film; from the fighting scenes to the costume, organization of scenes, and plot. The acting was better than I had thought as well. Thinking it would be a cheap documentary style film, Sarrounia shocked me walking out of the theater.Watching this film gave me a better understanding of white influence in Africa and of the french column and African culture.