Daresalam
Encyclopedia
Daresalam is a 2000 dramatic film by Chad
ian director Issa Serge Coelo
. It has been considered one of the very few recent African films that has treated the theme of the internecine conflicts that have ravaged the African continent since independence. While set in a fictional African country called Daresalam, it reflects the civil war that ravaged Chad during the 1960s and 1970s.
A heated discussion ensues, which degenerates, causing the death of a government official, which causes in retaliation the burning of the village and the massacre of its inhabitants. Koni and Djimi now pass with others to the rebellion, but the rebels eventually split, with Djimi remaining with the hardliners and Koni going instead with a faction which supports compromise with the government, thus estranging the two friends. Koni will later be executed in a coup, while Djimi will leave the rebels and return to his home village with a war widow and a sewing machine left to him by a fallen combatant, with which he can attempt to start a new life for himself and his family.
Director Issa Coelo, in speaking of his film, explains he wanted to expose the vicious circle that originates when a despotic government causes the outbreak of a civil war, which ends to feed itself endlessly, as each power maintains itself through despotism, thus generating its own armed opposition. In Coelo's words, "war becomes the only economy of the country. Violence, the only way of speech and communication possible. ... With in mind the myth of Cain and Abel
, Daresalam narrates how this war machine finishes to put one against the other two friends, at the beginning moved by the same ideals. This story is meant to be a speech against war and for humanity's survival."
judged the film positively, calling the it "achingly beautiful and sad", and appreciates the final, which "ends on a note of un-ironic optimism that is more radical than all the calculated nihilism currently being served up on Western movie screens", and compared the film to Barbet Schroeder
's Our Lady of the Assassins
in their common ambition "to shed light on shadowy existences".
The fim is analyzed by Roy Armes, that observes how Coelo avoids any heroics, showing the rebels' limitations and the confusion of the conflict. While judging the work "a sincere and serious study of a key aspect of contemporary Africa", he feels that the film lacks the passion of Med Hondo
's works on the Polisario
rebels, possibly because of Coelo's belief that "cinema should ask questions rather than give answers", which could explain the distance we are maintained from the two main characters. The film is also mentioned by Françoise Pfaff as an example of a new series of African historical films, which avoid the over-simplification of the past, and in particular Daresalam in its problematic description of post-indepence Africa is seen as close to Flora Gomes
' Mortu Nega
.
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
ian director Issa Serge Coelo
Issa Serge Coelo
Issa Serge Coelo is a Chadian film director. Born in Biltine, Chad, he studied history in Paris and film at the Ecole Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle . He then worked as a cameraman at Métropole Télévision, France 3, TV5MONDE and CFI before creating the 1994 short film Un taxi pour Aouzou...
. It has been considered one of the very few recent African films that has treated the theme of the internecine conflicts that have ravaged the African continent since independence. While set in a fictional African country called Daresalam, it reflects the civil war that ravaged Chad during the 1960s and 1970s.
Synopsis
The film takes place in a fictional central African country (called Daresalam, "the Land of Peace" in Arabic) amidst a civil war. It features as main characters two young friends, Koni (Haikal Zakaria) and Djimi (Abdoulaye Ahmat), whose peaceful existence is interrupted when the central government irrupts in their village harassing them and browbeating the villagers into paying new taxes to help fight the civil war.A heated discussion ensues, which degenerates, causing the death of a government official, which causes in retaliation the burning of the village and the massacre of its inhabitants. Koni and Djimi now pass with others to the rebellion, but the rebels eventually split, with Djimi remaining with the hardliners and Koni going instead with a faction which supports compromise with the government, thus estranging the two friends. Koni will later be executed in a coup, while Djimi will leave the rebels and return to his home village with a war widow and a sewing machine left to him by a fallen combatant, with which he can attempt to start a new life for himself and his family.
Director Issa Coelo, in speaking of his film, explains he wanted to expose the vicious circle that originates when a despotic government causes the outbreak of a civil war, which ends to feed itself endlessly, as each power maintains itself through despotism, thus generating its own armed opposition. In Coelo's words, "war becomes the only economy of the country. Violence, the only way of speech and communication possible. ... With in mind the myth of Cain and Abel
Cain and Abel
In the Hebrew Bible, Cain and Abel are two sons of Adam and Eve. The Qur'an mentions the story, calling them the two sons of Adam only....
, Daresalam narrates how this war machine finishes to put one against the other two friends, at the beginning moved by the same ideals. This story is meant to be a speech against war and for humanity's survival."
Reception & Evaluation
The LA WeeklyLA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
judged the film positively, calling the it "achingly beautiful and sad", and appreciates the final, which "ends on a note of un-ironic optimism that is more radical than all the calculated nihilism currently being served up on Western movie screens", and compared the film to Barbet Schroeder
Barbet Schroeder
Barbet Schroeder is a Franco-Swiss movie director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working together with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette.-Life and career:...
's Our Lady of the Assassins
La virgen de los sicarios
Our Lady of the Assassins may refer to any of the following articles:* Our Lady of the Assassins of the Colombian writer Fernando Vallejo, published by Alfaguara, Bogotá, 1993 in Spanish....
in their common ambition "to shed light on shadowy existences".
The fim is analyzed by Roy Armes, that observes how Coelo avoids any heroics, showing the rebels' limitations and the confusion of the conflict. While judging the work "a sincere and serious study of a key aspect of contemporary Africa", he feels that the film lacks the passion of Med Hondo
Med Hondo
Med Hondo is a Mauritanian film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and voice actor. He emigrated to France in 1959 and began to work in film during the 1960s. He received critical acclaim for his 1967 directorial début Soleil O.-Biography:Hondo was born in 1936 in Ain Oul Beri Mathar in the...
's works on the Polisario
Polisario Front
The POLISARIO, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro is a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement working for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco...
rebels, possibly because of Coelo's belief that "cinema should ask questions rather than give answers", which could explain the distance we are maintained from the two main characters. The film is also mentioned by Françoise Pfaff as an example of a new series of African historical films, which avoid the over-simplification of the past, and in particular Daresalam in its problematic description of post-indepence Africa is seen as close to Flora Gomes
Flora Gomes
Flora Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean film director. He was born in Cadique, Guinea-Bissau on 31 December, 1949 and after high school in Cuba, he decided to study film at the Cuban Film Institute in Havana....
' Mortu Nega
Mortu Nega
Mortu Nega is a 1988 historic film by Flora Gomes, a director from Guinea-Bissau. Mortu Nega was Gomes' first feature-length film. This is the first docufiction, more precisely the first ethnofiction, from his country that shows, in an expressive and touching way, the experiences of the...
.