The Mad Masters (Les maîtres fou)
Directed by Jean Rouch
Les Films de la Pleiade
First viewing/YouTube
[box] Personally, I am violently opposed to film crews…. The ethnologist alone, in my mind, is the one who knows when, where, and how to film, i.e. to do the production. Finally, and this is doubtless the decisive argument, the ethnologist should spend quite a long time in the field before undertaking the least bit of film making. This period of reflection, of learning, of mutual understanding might be extremely long, but such a stay is incompatible with the schedules and salaries of a team of technicians. — Jean Rouch[/box]
The best thing about this documentary is that it lasts only 25 minutes. I found it very distressing.
Documentary filmmaker Jean Rouch takes his camera to Accra, Ghana where we see Africans laboring in the busy city to support “colonial oppression”. Some of these men gather every day at noon. On the weekends they transition from modern workers to become Haukas.
The men have constructed their version of the white colonial world with a makeshift governor’s palace and idol of the governor. The ritual consists of going into a frenzied trance in which their bodies are occupied by caricature versions of the colonial powers such as the governor, a doctor, his wife etc. During the trance, the men foam at the mouth and stagger around. They begin to mutilate themselves. The high point is the sacrifice and consumption of a dog. Yuck.
I am nothing if not a completist and I found this 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die film on YouTube. I wish I had died before I saw it. When I watch things like this I can’t help suspecting that the filmmaker is somehow egging the subjects on. I’m also not quite sure about the political construct Rouch has overlaid the film with.
2 responses to “The Mad Masters (1955)”