And So Angels Die
Ainsi meurent les anges
Senegal
2001
56 Min
Color, Black and White
French, Wolof
Synopsis
Moussa Sene Absa’s latest work pushes the formal boundaries of African cinema to explore the complex interplay of history and psychology in contemporary Africa. Intensely personal and at the same time deeply political, Ainsi meurent les anges combines the elegiac lyricism of his Ça twiste à Poponguine with the acerbic social critique of Tableau Ferraille. What is perhaps most surprising is that this creative freedom was won precisely by working within the constraints of new low-budget video technology. Appearing the same year as Karmen Geï and Faat Kine, it attests to the continuing vitality of Senegalese filmmaking as it propels African cinema in boldly innovative directions.
This theme of the penetration of the present by the past, of the narrative by the subconscious, is given structural articulation through the dizzying intercutting of color and black-and-white sequences in the film’s bravura opening. Color footage introduces us to Mory, a troubled Senegalese poet (played by writer/director Moussa Sene Absa himself) living outside Paris with his French wife and their children. We watch his marriage fall apart under crosscultural pressures, specifically his father’s demand that he take a second wife in Senegal. Homeless in winter, separated from his children, his poems scattered over a Paris street, Mory returns to Senegal, penniless and with uncertain prospects. —California Newsreel
Director
Moussa Sene Absa
A painter as well as a filmmaker, Absa draws heavily on performance art and other visual art forms in his feature films. As he once said, “I see the décor as a character, and this character is just as important as an actor. The sets speak to us. I like cinéma vérité, and I am inspired by reality.” Absa’s work exemplifies a generation of Senegalese filmmakers (including Mansour Sora Wade and Dyana Gaye) whose use of color, stunning imagery, and close collaboration with various forms of performance art is inspired by the culture’s ‘Masters.’ Absa presents a Senegal that recognizes the value of all of its people, speaking to and valuing the old and the young, men and women, the politics and the poetry of his society. —www.movingimage.us
Moussa Sene Absa overflows with creativity. He is an artist, writer, and musician, as well as a film director. He made his debut as an actor, then moved to directing with the production of his own stage play, La Légende de Ruba.
In cinema, he… read more
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