Feature film
Camp de Thiaroye
Synopsis
December 1944. West African tirailleurs who have returned from the battlefields of Europe, some of them coming out of prisoner-of-war camps, are gathered at Thiaroye, at the gates of Dakar, to await demobilisation. Among them are Sergeant-Major Diatta, an educated man married to a Frenchwoman with whom he has a child, and Pays, a mute soldier broken by the war. The officers see them only as natives; when the men learn that a currency conversion will cut their pay by half, the camp rises up and takes a general hostage.
Context
The film is co-signed by Ousmane Sembène, himself a former tirailleur, who shared the screenplay and the direction. It was produced between Senegal, Algeria and Tunisia, and runs over two hours, spoken in French, in Wolof and in the French of the tirailleurs; the music is by Ismaël Lô. Awarded at Venice in 1988, it remained about ten years out of French cinemas. The World Cinema Project and the Bologna cinematheque have restored it, and Cannes showed it in 2024. The official toll of thirty-five dead remains disputed, some estimates going up to three hundred.
Who it is for
Two and a half hours, in French and Wolof with subtitles. It is better to know who the tirailleurs were and what France owed them at the time of sending them home.
Prizes and reception
Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1988; restored, it was shown at Cannes Classics in 2024.