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001 kan1139643
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008 150414p20151997cau089 o vlfre d
028 52 1139643|bKanopy
035 (OCoLC)908378061
040 CaSfKAN|beng|erda|cCaSfKAN
043 e-fr---
245 00 Dakan (Destiny).
264 1 [San Francisco, California, USA] :|bKanopy Streaming,
|c2015.
300 1 online resource (1 video file, approximately 90 min.) :
|bdigital, .flv file, sound
336 two-dimensional moving image|btdi|2rdacontent
337 computer|bc|2rdamedia
338 online resource|bcr|2rdacarrier
344 digital
347 video file|bMPEG-4|bFlash
500 Title from title frames.
518 Originally produced by California Newsreel in 1997.
520 The first feature film on homosexuality from sub-Saharan
Africa. While "coming out" may have become primetime fare
in the U.S., this film was met with angry protests when it
was shot in the director's native Guinea and has generated
heated debate among Africanists here as well. But beyond
its controversial topic, Dakan is a contemporary African
reinterpretation of the age-old Romeo and Juliet conflict
between love and social convention. Director Mohamed
Camara has written, "I made this film to pay tribute to
those who express their love in whatever way they feel it,
despite society's efforts to repress it." Dakan begins
with the most sexually explicit opening scene in African
cinema. Rather than the usual rural landscape or urban
panorama locating the characters in a recognizable social
or geographical context, the camera focuses on an isolated
couple locked in a clandestine embrace in a sports car at
night. The shot becomes even more transgressive when we
recognize the couple are two young men. When one of them
later tells his mother he's attracted to another man, she
replies: "Since time began, it's never happened. Boy's
don't do that. That's all there is to it." Dakan thus
becomes the story of two men who by "coming out" disappear,
become invisible to their families and society, because
their society has no language which recognizes their love.
In the first scene, Manga and Sori, two students in
Conakry, argue and then part over whether to consumate
their forbidden love; then each parent warns his son
against the relationship; next each son "comes out" to his
parent; they decide not to see each other again; both
become ill; each family attempts to "cure" their son's
homosexuality; each son tries, unsuccessfully, to form a
lasting relationship with a woman; finally, they are
reunited and accept their love as "destiny." The two boys
also share parallel psychological profiles; they are both
only children of single parents who have invested their
whole emotional lives in their sons. After the
disappearance of his father, Manga's mother, Fanta, has
lived only for her son. Sori's father, Bakary (played by
director Camara), a successful, self-made businessman has
prepared a brilliant future for his unambitious son. One
can perhaps detect in these characterizations now suspect
Freudian theories of the origins of homosexuality in an
overly protective mother or an over-bearing father. Sori's
father counsels "will power" and threatens to send him
away to school. Manga's mother decides her son is crazy
and forces him to go with her to a traditional healer.
This provides a telling analogy to our own "witchdoctors"
- psychotherapists, reprogrammers and "exodus" ministries
convinced they can "cure" homosexuality. Fanta herself
undergoes a dangerous "re-birthing" ritual in a newly dug
grave. Dakan does not try to present a realistic picture
of Guinean society; rather it shows love taking many
unexpected forms, often in defiance of social convention.
Manga, for example, tells his future girlfriend, Oumou, he
is married to his mother. He also tells Sori it's unfair
he can't be the mother of his child. Oumou's African wet-
nurse became her adopted mother after her parents were
killed; Oumou in turn becomes her nurse's nurse when she
falls ill. Manga doesn't hesitate to fall in love with
Oumou, although she is a white woman, because they have so
much else in common. Manga's mother asks him to give Sori
a bracelet with the legend, "Take care of my child." In
the very next scene, we see Manga taking care of Sori's
son. For a moment an impossible hope flickers that, as
Sori once dreamed, Manga, his child and he might all live
together in rural obscurity. But no happy Hollywood ending
is possible because there are no narratives available for
the harmonious integraton of homosexual couples into
traditional society. In the final shot, Sori and Manga are
again together in a car, this time speeding towards an
uncertain future. The entire film has been, in effect, one
long, anguished parenthesis between the necessary
succession of the opening and closing shots. There is,
however, little triumphalism and less sense that amor
vincit omnia, "love conquers all." What remains is the
tragic knowledge that Manga and Sori's love is both
destined and destines them to lose family and social
identity. As Manga and Sori disappear into the distance,
all that remains is the echo of their and the viewer's
loss. "'Coming out' and seeking acceptance is nothing new;
but in this small but heartfelt film it is given fresh
life...A trailblazer in the African context." - Variety
"One of the most original films showcased at the 1997
Cannes Film Festival." - Le Monde "This fascinating film.
. . . deals with homosexual love in contemporary Guinea.
It allows us to see the dangers in supposing there can be
a universal gay narrative and it is also a charming
narrative." - K. Anthony Appiah, Harvard University
"Vibrant with a beautiful insousiance...A fresh look at a
world yet to arrive, an ignored part of Africa, that only
asks to be filmed so that it can breathe." - Libération
(Paris).
538 Mode of access: World Wide Web.
650 0 Male homosexuality|zAfrica|vDrama.
650 0 Manners and customs|vDrama|zAfrica.
655 7 Feature films.|2lcgft
700 1 Camara, Mohamed |d1959-.,|efilm director.
710 2 Kanopy (Firm)
914 kan1139643
