Review of Black and White in Color (1976) by Mark H — 15 Apr 2004

Directed by Jean-Jaques Annaud.

Written by Annaud and Georges Conchon.

[b]Genre[/b]: Drama/War.

[b]MPAA[/b]: PG.

[b]Runtime[/b]: 90 minutes.

[b]Plot Summary[/b]: French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors. Deciding that they must do their proper duty and fight the Germans, they promptly conscript the local native population. Issuing them boots and rifles, the French attempt to make "proper" soldiers out of the Africans. - IMDB.

Winning the Oscar for best foreign film, [i]Black and White in Color[/i] is a dark comedic satire on the French occupancy of West Africa. Through colonization and imperialism, they Christianized the Africans and trained them to fight in the upcoming war with Germany - even though they all thought it would be with England. As a political film, it is rich in depth; as an entertaining film, it is pretty poor. The film gives you a few simple ideas and gives yuo reason to laugh at them. Which is fine, except that this problem isn't really a laughing matter. No country should try to Christianize or Americanize (oops) other countries in which they deemed "primitive." Who has the right to claim themselves better than another?

If you like [i]Black and White in Color[/i], you might also like...

- [i]Yaaba [/i](Idrissa Ouedraogo, 1989) - The story focuses on Bila, a ten year old boy who befriends an old woman, Sana. Everybody calls her 'Witch' but Bila himself calls her 'Yaaba' (grandmother). When Bilas cousin Nopoko gets sick it is Sana's medicin who rescues her. - IMDB.