The themes of both of the films we watched are similar. Both Mory from "And So Angels Die" and Diouana from "Black Girl" are looking for something better, and believe that life is in France. In reality, they both discover that France doesn't exactly have what they are looking for. Mory travels to France to have a fresh start. After the woman he loves gets married, he travels to France in hopes to ease his pain and start a new life. The pain follows him, however, and his new marriage does not seem picture perfect in any way. After his wife sees the letter from his father about wanting Mory to have a second wife, she kicks him out and he travels back to Senegal. His father wants him to marry again, but he refuses and claims he wants to live his life his own way.
In both films, the sense of freedom is found at the end. Although in "Black Girl" Diouana's death is unexpected and tragic, she is now free from being a "slave" to the family. Mory also proclaims he wants to have a new lifestyle, where he lives for himself rather than doing what his father tells him to do. Freedom is found, but in entirely different ways.
Although the article speaks about financial problems with production of Senegalese films, I thought this film was put together nicely. The use of black and white images along with color emphasized some ideas and kept my interest. You would not think that Senegal lacks film schools, technicians, or any other factors that films usually have. Although the story line was a little confusing, the way the movie was filmed was done very well.
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