A caustic comedy with corrosive humor that is also a portrait of France in total identity introspection, Simply Black, released in the middle of a pandemic year, hit the mark and attracted more than 762,000 viewers. And it just landed on Netflix.
Among other delicious sequences from Jean-Pascal Zade’s film, we particularly remember the one between Lucien Jean-Baptiste discussing the latter’s Case Départ, by Fabre Eboue, released in 2011. At first polite but very cold, the exchange quickly turns tense.
“I don’t laugh at slavery stories. Going out of the box doesn’t highlight black people. Do you understand that?” Lucien rocks Jean-Baptiste like a rocket. An equally poignant response from Eboué: “Because you, a movie where a black man falls on his ass in the snow isn’t a cliché, is it? You make bounty movies!”
Signed next to him Thomas Ngijol, starting point It tells the story of half-brothers, Joel and Reg, who have only a father in common, whom they barely know. Claimed at their dying father’s bedside in the West Indies, they receive as their sole heirloom the Emancipation Deed that granted freedom to their slave ancestors, a document passed down from generation to generation.
They did not pay attention to the symbolic richness of this document and tore it up. Determined to punish them for the gesture they’ve just made, a mysterious old aunt who’s been stalking them since they arrived in the West Indies decides to take them back in time to the heart of slavery!
Dropped by parachute in 1780, they will be sold in the market as slaves. Then the two brothers must unite, not only to escape the plantation, but to return home to the 21st century…
Can we laugh at such a serious subject as slavery? Of course, only on the condition that the script and dialogues achieve a very difficult balancing act on an ultra-puzzling subject. This is the bet – so successful – by the tandem of Thomas Ngigol and Fabrice Eboue in Case Départ, available on Netflix.
At least Eboue took the tweezers with this theme in mind. Hence the idea of returning to the past, which acts as a mirror to the present. He returned to this choice as follows: “The topic is so sensitive today that if we were treated differently than going back to the past, we would not have reached this issue. This film gains its full meaning by going back in time and showing the road traveled over three hundred years.
We need to stop being manipulated by the extremes who only expect hatred from one side or the other because that’s all they live for. History sets a trajectory on which we are already well advanced, but which we must continue. The film really talks about our time, but it talks about it better, because it has a direct comparison with the past.”
Funny, but it doesn’t rule out the idea of making people think, without your moralizer, Case Depart can be discovered (or re-watched) on Netflix.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
