By Matthew Moorcroft

Strong Recommendation

• Directed by Mati Diop
• Not Rated

There are 7000 historical artifacts from the kingdom of Dahomey that were stolen. The French colonial rule took these for the taking, and nowadays the objects sit for viewing at the Paris museum Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, just waiting there. Sitting. It wasn’t until 2020 that 26 of these thousand of artifacts were returned to Dahomey, now modern day Benin, in an attempt by the museum to avoid further controversy surrounding it’s thousands of artifacts that were the product of colonial rule and pillaging.

This is a story about one of them, specifically that of King Ghezo, whose narration about coming home to Benin makes up a majority of Mati Diop’s Golden Bear winning Dahomey. Personifying an old people while also giving a POV view of the entire trip from France to Benin really puts into perspective just how far these artifacts went and where they initially came from. But while this is definitely fascinating stuff – I love when directors like Diop play with documentary convention like this – it’s really the second half of the feature that shines brightly.

Dahomey avoids sensationalism or even it’s own opinions, instead presenting it’s material with a keen neutrality that mostly just watches. The second half of the feature, which is a discussion by students at the University of Abomey-Calavi, is filled with numerous opinions of all kinds. Some believe the return of the objects is a triumph, and that it should be celebrated as a win for Benin. Others criticize the decision to send only 26 of the 7000, believing it to be an insult. Some go further and argue that the objects returning don’t mean anything in the long run if Benin’s school system – which is improving but still weak among older students – doesn’t have the resources to actually teach about this history in the first place. Watching the debate in real time is so fascinating and gripping that you almost forget about the actual story behind the artifacts in the first place.

Diop’s gorgeous camerawork aside, there is a fantastical, almost fairy tale quality to how it presents the story of King Ghezo. It portrays him as a dreamer, somebody who longs to return to his point of origin but when he does is almost melancholic about it. Does he miss France, having been there for so long that he misses it in it’s own way? Or does he regret the time that he has spent away from his country and people, only to see it evolve into something completely new and alien to him? It’s impressive on how Dahomey makes you care and understand the perspective of a something without emotions, but film as fantasy has always been one of the most effective tools in a filmmakers library. This is something Diop knows very well from her other work and it continues into here in surprising, moving ways.

At only 68 minutes though, Dahomey admittedly does feel a little light on information. This isn’t necessarily a bug though – it’s clear that Diop has no interest in the French side of the story, for example. Instead Dahomey lets itself come to a reasonable conclusion and lets the audience ponder to itself the meaning and implications of it’s content. A great image near the finale of the picture of a young Benin kid looking at King Ghezo with wonder and curiousity is probably worth a thousand words here, all wordless imagery. But for those who are likely looking for some massive dump of knowledge about the history of Dahomey and it’s people will likely be disappointed, as this is not necessarily what the film is about or trying to do.

What this does proves though is that Mati Diop is a wildly underappreciated talent of a filmmaker who is slowly making her way to the top as one of our most interesting, constantly evolving, and uniquely styled ones. Her directorial voice is clear, her camera and shot work always beautiful, and her films have a meditative quality to them that make you just want to sink into them regardless of it’s actual subject matter. I don’t know if Dahomey is the best documentary from this year, but it’s certainly one of the best directed, and one of the most unique pieces of art I’ve experienced this year. Highly recommend for anybody with even a passing interest.