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ATLANTICS
Director: Mati Diop Cast: Mama Sané, Amadou Mbow, Ibrahima Traoré, Nicole Sougou, Amina Kane, Mariama Gassama, Coumba Dieng, Babacar Sylla, Ibrahima Mbaye, Diankou Sembene MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:46 Release Date: 11/15/19 (limited); 11/29/19 (Netflix) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | November 28, 2019 Ada (Mama Sané) is engaged to marry a wealthy man, but her heart is set on a poor construction worker. Atlantics, co-written and directed by Mati Diop, begins as a tale of star-crossed lovers, seemingly destined for tragedy of some sort. When actual tragedy strikes off-screen, unknown to but suspected by many people, the story shifts gears. The screenplay, also written by Oliver Demangel, may begin with the promise of some kind of melodrama, but that is not the film's purpose. Ada is torn between her love for Souleiman (Ibrahima Traoré), who can only provide her with a life of financial struggle and being ostracized from her parents, and the potential of a comfortable life with wealthy businessman Omar (Babacar Sylla), for whom she possesses no feelings. The secret lovers are supposed to meet, but Souleiman, having not been paid by another businessman building a giant tower in Dakar, sets out for Spain, looking for work, with several of his co-workers. They are never heard from again. Strange things begin to happen in the Senegalese city and a neighboring suburb. Some of Ada's friends claim to see Souleiman on Ada's wedding night, when the marriage bed spontaneously combusts. Local women and Issa (Amadou Mbow), the police investigator looking into the case of arson, develop a fever. Soon, Mr. N'Diaye (Diankou Sembene), the man building the tower, is visited by women with foggy eyes, demanding that he pay them the workers' lost wages. The film becomes a ghost story, but there's no attempt or need on Diop's part to instill it with any sense of horror. There is only a creeping air of melancholy, highlighted by class-based outrage that becomes a supernatural force. It's seeking earned and just compensation for lives lost in the pursuit getting by, while a pair of rich men believe they're entitled to, for N'Diaye, the work and, for Omar, the love of others. Ada's story is important, as she has to decide what to do with her love gone and a life of misery before her, but the ghost or ghosts are the real driving impetus of Atlantics. There is a star-crossed bond here beyond Ada and Souleiman, and it exists in the relationship between the working class, believing they're important to men like N'Diaye, and the wealthy, who only seem capable of fulfilling their end of the bargain when a supernatural entity demands it. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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