The Black Girl - Jessica Weiss

The film Black Girl was revolutionary for its time, especially compared to other films. Sembene does an amazing job of really capturing the motions and on-goings of Diouana and her life as a maid. Watching the film made me feel with Diouana not just pity her struggles in the racist household. At first when she is asked to go to France she is so excited that her white family would want her to go. Her mistress told her about all the shops and the people. It crushed her when all the sudden her adventure became less exciting than her home town where at least she had freedom to go out with her boyfriend and spend time not at work with her family. Diouana put all her trust into her white family, who she saw as classy and cultured, who were good to her, giving her beautiful hand-me-down dresses to wear, and entrusting her with their kids. Her first official visit to the house, she even gives her mistress a real mask to hang with her collection of African masks. This symbolizes that she trusted the white family and wanted to give them all the nice things she could in exchange for their kindness. Working with a white family excited Diouana because of the privileges it allowed her. Unfortunately going to France changed everything as she went from nanny to maid without any consent given. The suicide scene was the perfect ending to this film because it shows how Diouana lost her faith in the white family. She could no longer tolerate their cruelty. She felt betrayed. I believe this movie gives the viewer a lot to think about in terms of post colonialized Sengal.