 |
Screening Time: Wednesday, October 28 at 7 PM in the Limburg Theater
Director: Cheikh Djemaï /Martinique / France / Algeria / Tunisia, 2004 |
Synopsis: Frantz Fanon was a psychiatrist, originally from Martinique, who became a spokesman for the Algerian revolution against French colonialism. During the Second World War, he volunteered as a soldier to help France, “the Mother Country,” against the Nazis. Embittered by his experience with racism in the French Army, he gravitated to radical politics, Sartrean existentialism and the philosophy of black consciousness known as négritude. His 1952 book, ”Black Skin, White Masks,” offers a penetrating analysis of racism and oppression in colonized countries and of the ways in which it is internalized by its victims. While secretly aiding the rebels of the Algerian anti-colonial war as a doctor in Algeria, Fanon cared for victims and perpetrators alike, producing case notes that shed invaluable light on the psychic traumas of colonial war. Expelled from Algeria in 1956, Fanon moved to Tunis where he wrote for El Moudjahid, the rebel newspaper, founded Africa’s first psychiatric clinic, and wrote several influential books on decolonization. Frantz Fanon, His Life, His Struggle, His Work reunites testimonies of friends, family and colleagues that he met during the different steps of his life and traces the short and intense life of one of the great thinkers of the 20th century.
Review: “Cheikh Djemaï, French-Algerian filmmaker, is one of the creators who claim the right to ‘Remembrance’ on behalf of their contemporaries who were crushed by the wheels of ‘History’. His movies help us better reach the humanity that is coiled inside each of us. This demanding director, a man of fury and passion, is like a breath of hope and gives new meaning to the word solidarity.” G. Ginsberg, RFO
The documentary of the life of introspective, fighter, student, doctor, philosopher, revolutionary thinker, and writer Frantz Fanon reflected the many journeys his life took him on. I have personally not been educated about the life of Frantz Fanon and therefore found much of the film to be intriguing and interesting new information. Historically, Fanon lived in a very complicated era and seeing the world through his journey created a new perspective I did not know about. The part that intrigued me most was when he returned to Algeria as a psychologist to study the mental patients. The blatant segregation between European and Muslim/Arab patients and the clear distinctions between the manifestations of this separation led Fanon to state that one cannot cure people under apartheid. I enjoyed learning about his methods to restore the mentality to patients, to return them to familiar surroundings, and create a less constricting environment. This was particularly interesting as I am currently learning about mental hospitals in my sociology class; Fanon’s methods directly relate to sociological research and modern proven studies about environmental affects on the patients. In general Fanon’s ideas reflected his great ability to analyze the difficulties and problems of the world and himself. It was fun to watch this French documentary and realize how with the small amount of French I know, I am able to pick out a lot in a conversation.