West Indies (1979)

Original title

West Indies ou les Nègres marrons de la liberté

Directed by

Med Hondo

Genre

music, history, drama

Country

Mauritania

Runtime

1h 50m

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 15 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Set on a slave ship, the film uses music and drama to show the history of French colonialism in the West Indies. It follows enslaved people and their struggles for freedom from the 17th century through the 20th century.

sweepingironicpoliticaltheatricalmusicalhistoricalboldepicsatirical

What happens

West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (French: West Indies ou les Nègres marrons de la liberté) is a 1979 French-language musical drama film directed by Med Hondo. The plot of the film was adapted from a play titled Les négriers (The Slavers), written by Daniel Boukman. The film is highly regarded as a landmark film in the history of African cinema as it was made with a lavish budget of US$1.35 million, making it one of the biggest budgeted African films ever to be made. Against the backdrop of the colonial West Indies, which was under French imperialism, the drama was set on a slave ship. The film had its theatrical release in 1979. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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