Borom Sarret. 1963. Directed by Ousmane Sembene.

(1/14/01)

At the beginning of Borom Sarret a man makes a prayer, asking God to protect him from the law, or law-makers, or the police. It is interesting that the law is viewed not as something that protects, but as something to be feared. And this is certainly reinforced by the rest of the film--the police officer who confiscate the Borom Sarret's cart and lets his customer skip without paying does not administer justice. Back in his section of the town, he says he feels safer there because there are no police around.

There is a priest or singer of some sort who tells the borom sarret about the glories of his ancestors. That certainly doesn't do him any good. If anything, it makes him feel more acutely how far he and his people have fallen.

When this sarret, this cart-driver walks through the streets, thinking about losing his cart, it just doesn't feel that sad. His words are certainly dejected enough, but they don't hit me emotionally. I don't know if that was the way it was intended.

At the end of the film his wife assures him that they will eat that night and leaves. How is she going to provide for them? The thing that comes to my mind is prostitution, but I don't know for sure if that is the way the ending was meant to be understood.

Borom Sarret. 1963. Directed by Ousmane Sembene.

(12/28/00)

I very much liked the photography of Borom Sarret.

The film has a political significance which was lost on me, really. It is the story of a cart-driver in Dakar who is persuaded to drive a client into a section of the city where cart-drivers (borom sarrets) are not allowed. He is arrested, the customer leaves without paying and his cart is confiscated. He has to return to his wife and children without the means to make a living.

The story is told through interior monologue. The driver comes across as an average person, not particularly likable.

The two sections of the city are contrasted through music. We hear African music when we are in the poor section and Western music when we are in the wealthy section. The soundtrack is quite inventive. When the driver is stopped by the authorities the sound ceases to be natural and becomes subjective, expressing his shock. There is also the motif of a squeaky wheel on the cart.

The driver is asked to take a pregnant woman to the maternity hospital. (He has difficulty driving because she insists on resting her head on his shoulder.) Soon afterwards he is hired to drive a man with a dead child to the cemetery. Birth and death are thus linked.

After he has been swindled and his cart confiscated the driver thinks back on these encounters, mentally blaming the customers involved for what happened to him. It was the fault of the man who had hired him to drive the child's body to the cemetery. It was the fault of the man who hired him to drive his wife to the maternity hospital. This is a very genuine human reaction.

For me, this film is a depiction of human meanness. I suppose the authorities in the wealthy district needed to keep some kind of order or protect the power structure. But did they really need to take his cart? I think that a stern warning would have been sufficient (as well as being deprived of his fare). Taking away his means of support really accomplished nothing except adding to the amount of misery in the world.

But I suspect that there was a lot to this picture which eluded me.