Dahomey – a rewarding documentary about the return of plundered loot (QFT from Friday 25 October)

Documentaries only make rare appearances in local cinemas outside of curated film festivals. But they often surprise and linger in the imagination longer than higher-budget flights of fantasy, fictional movies.

Dahomey is unhurried, yet barely over an hour in duration. At times it is almost mindful with a black screen, occasional ghostly narration from ancestral voices, and a great soundtrack. It tells the story of 26 artefacts that were returned from France to Benin.

The West African kingdom of Dahomey existed between the 17th and 20th centuries. Its treasures were plundered. Some ended up in the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac in Paris, an entire museum devoted to art from outside Europe.

The film, written and directed by Mati Diop, watches as French and Beninese museum curators box up statues of kings and trinkets to securely transport them four thousand kilometres south to their new home. Joséphine Drouin-Viallard’s cinematography offers a mix of CCTV footage, arty static shots looking though layers of objects at COVID-masked museum staff and members of the public.

There are jubilant scenes as people line the streets to greet the vehicles carrying the wooden crates from the airport to Benin’s Presidential Palaces. What were mere museum exhibits in Paris take on the mantle of being treasures in Benin. The moody narration speaks of the objects moving from darkness to light. An animated discussion amongst university students offers differing perspectives. One person’s celebration is another’s cause for continued regret. Some describe a sense of pride and enhanced identity as they celebrate the restitution of the 26 artefacts; others say they are witnessing a negotiated failure with France wrongly praised for their generous return of just 26 out of around 7,000 objects that remain abroad.

Justice is disputed. Is the coloniser benevolent or still holding power over the colonised? Students remark that they are discussing the return using the coloniser’s French, rather than a local language like Fon. The great and the good attend the official opening. Students call for funding to be made available to schools from across Benin can afford to visit and allow children to connect with their culture and history. What use is it simply moving these objects from being locked away in Paris to being inaccessible in Benin?

Dahomey is a simple yet beautifully crafted film that mixes together spiritual, cultural and history. The film offers an insight into unfamiliar history and an unfamiliar culture. Yet the notion of colonising powers looting treasure is sadly universal: the fate of the Elgin Marbles would be just one example closer to home. Dahomey is being screened in Queen’s Film Theatre from Friday 25 October.

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