Educational Media Reviews Online

This film is a drama, but it is shot as if it were a documentary. It explores the difficulty of making movies in modern Africa, especially in the director’s homeland of Chad. The director, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, plays himself in a somewhat fictionalized version of his own life and struggles, but one that deals nevertheless with some very real problems that exist in Africa today.

As the film opens Haroun is awakened from a sound sleep by the telephone, while at his home in Paris. He is told that his mother, who he as not seen in many years, is dead! He feels great sorrow at the news, and not a small amount of remorse. As a filmmaker he has been forced to live in France for many years, because finding work in his chosen profession is all but impossible in his home country. He regrets the many years he has had to spend away from home while pursuing his work, and the separation from loved ones it has necessitated. He returns home, to the city of N’Djamena, to mourn his Mother and visit his family. He sees his aged grandmother and forlorn father, and listens as the older man describes his mother’s death and the condition of their family. His father disapproves of filmmaking, saying it is of no use, and bemoans the fact that his son never became a doctor. Later he seeks out his old friend Garba, and together they visit the old cinemas that they both enjoyed so much as children. Unfortunately, he finds these all in ruins! The people of Chad have been so impoverished by years of civil war, and are so afraid of the street violence it has engendered, that they no longer go to the cinema. What films they do see are usually through “video clubs” in their neighborhoods, and most of these are not produced in Africa. While contemplating the condition of his family, his country and his profession, Haroun resolves to make a new film in his mother’s honor. It will explore the status of filmmaking on the continent, and he will call it Bye Bye Africa.

He goes to a local movie producer and asks for funding for his new film, but is turned down because the costs involved will be too high. He continues on nevertheless, using the handheld camera he has with him to do his work. He interviews former theater owners, video club mangers, and other individuals involved in what remains of Chad’s movie industry. He also inverviews people on the street, asking their opinions about films and filmmaking. He finds that attitudes toward the movies have changed for the worse since his departure. While some people fear the power of the camera (that it will “steal” their image), others believe that what they see on a movie or television screen is not fictional, but a reflection of actual events! One example of this is Isabelle, one of Haroun’s former girlfriends, who once appeared in one of his films as a woman with AIDS. Once the film was released many people were convinced that she had the virus, which she did not, and she was shunned as a result. Later Haroun seeks Isabelle out and tries to reestablish his relationship with her, but it proves impossible. She is far too bitter because of the stigma his film has caused her, and he proves to be indifferent to her pain and what love she still has for him. He turns his back on her, with what will turn out to be tragic consequences, and chooses instead to focus on his filmmaking and the many obstacles he still faces there. At the films end he seems only slightly closer to achieving this goal than he did at the beginning, but he has through his struggles to do so become optimistic about the future! Garba, who recently won the lottery, has decided to use his money to open a new cinema in N’Djamena. Ali, Haroun’s young nephew, has decided to become a filmmaker, and has done so enthusiastically in spite of the many difficulties involved. These and other factors have given Haroun hope, and encourage him to go on with his work. He returns to France, but is determined to come back to N’Djamena soon, and finish Bye Bye Africa.

Throughout the film the director repeats the theme that the African film industry is in decline, and that it is of the greatest importance that it be revived! He quotes prominent African thinkers who point to the necessity of Africa preserving its culture through mastery of the media and the technologies associated with it. In the absence of such mastery, other cultures (chiefly Western ones) will smother African beliefs and ideas with their own. As worthy as these ideas are however, they are delivered in a rather awkward way in this film. The director often seems uncertain whether he wants to make a documentary, a drama, or a personal memoir, and as a consequence the production lurches from one disparate element to another. Although the film examines issues in African cinema that are important and interesting, and sometimes does so in an intriguing way, the dramatic elements often seem grafted on and unnecessary. It also introduces the viewer to interesting people, places and situations, but then pulls them away prematurely. Haroun’s relationships with his father and grandmother are barely explored, and as such would have been better not introduced. The romance between Haroun and Isabelle is only briefly explained and examined, but that when coupled with its tragic end makes it feel pointless and out of place. In spite of a hopeful ending in which Haroun optimistically gives his camera to his young nephew, the aspiring filmmaker, I found myself surprisingly unmoved! I would have preferred either a detailed documentary on the issues discussed, or a good, well paced drama that incorporated some of the ideas in question into the storyline. The directors attempts to do both (or neither – I’m not sure which) make the film drag and meander.