The Cinematheque

“A vital masterpiece of verve and invention.”

Barry Jenkins, director (Moonlight)

Mauritanian French director Med Hondo’s West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty proved a watershed event for African cinema—the continent’s first musical as well as a sui generis amalgam of historical epic, Broadway revue, Brechtian theater, and joyous agitprop. Using an enormous mock slave ship as the film’s only soundstage, Hondo mounts intricately choreographed reenactments and dance numbers across his multipurpose set to investigate more than three centuries of imperialist oppression. The story traverses the West Indies, Europe, and the Middle Passage; jumps across time to depict the effects of official French policy upon the colonized, the enslaved, and their descendants; and surveys the actions and motivations of the resigned, the revolutionary, and the powers that be (along with their lackeys). No mere extravaganza, West Indies is a call to arms for a spectacular yet critical cinematic reimagining of an entire people’s history of resistance and struggle. —Janus Films

In French with English subtitles

“One of Med Hondo’s lasting masterpieces … [Tells] four centuries of history through genial tracking shots as well as changes in temporality through camera movement, lush colors, and poignant lyrics and choreographies.”

Aboubakar Sanogo, Harvard Film Archive

“One of the great liberatory films … The dance has a specific ethnic and historical rootedness that’s not just decorative or entertainment, but rallying people with their bodies to create a ripple effect of direct action.”

Peter Sellars, theatre and opera director