Violence in Postcolonial African Film

Abstract

Different forms of violence surround Africans. These forms of violence go by different names, but all are built into and sustained by the fabric of everyday life. Contemporary African film delves into the subject of violence in a variety of ways. Some films show violence in its Fanonian sense, as liberatory and creative; others treat violence as a perpetually destructive force; and others still are ambivalent about the meaning of violence. Ultimately, the issue appears to rest on the matter of which specific violence one is talking about. This article looks at the representation of violence in Bamako (2006), a film by Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako. The author argues that in Bamako, violence is often invisible to the naked eye and is easily missed if one is looking for stereotypes of violence such as rape, killings and beatings. Rather, violence is endemic to our socio-economic order and overt instances of violence may be regarded as mere symptoms and flare-ups of a more sinister, quiet violence that goes by other names. The author further argues that the way we read representations of violence needs to be constantly subjected to rigorous contextualising and historicising, and that analytical frameworks should allow for more questions than certainties.

Opsomming
Verskillende vorme van geweld omring Afrikane. Hierdie geweldsvorme het verskillende name, maar almal is ingebou en word voortgesit in die struktuur van die alledaagse lewe. Kontemporêre Afrika-films delf op verskillende maniere in die onderwerp van geweld. Sommige films beeld geweld in sy Fanoniaanse sin uit, as bevrydend en kreatief; ander behandel geweld as ʼn ewigdurende vernietigende mag; en nog ander is ambivalent oor die betekenis van geweld. Uiteindelik lyk dit of die kwessie berus op die spesifieke geweld wat mens behandel. Hierdie artikel handel oor die uitbeelding van geweld in Bamako (2006), ʼn rolprent deur die Mauritiaanse rolprentvervaardiger Abderrahmane Sissako. Die outeur voer aan dat geweld in Bamako dikwels onsigbaar is vir die blote oog en mens dit maklik kan miskyk indien mens na stereotipes soos verkragtings, moorde en aanrandings soek. Geweld word eerder uitgebeeld as endemies tot ons sosio-ekonomiese orde, en sigbare gevalle van geweld kan beskou word as bloot simptome en opwellings van ʼn meer onheilspellende, stil geweld wat onder ander name gaan. Die outeur voer verder aan dat die manier waarop ons die uitbeelding van geweld lees voortdurend onderwerp moet word aan nougesette kontekstualisering en historisering, en dat analitiese raamwerke vir meer vrae as sekerhede voorsiening moet maak.