Direction: Mati Diop
Country: France / Benin / other
This intelligent yet ultimately unexceptional documentary directed by Mati Diop (Atlantiques, 2019) centers on the 26 royal ethnographic objects from the Kingdom of Dahomey—now Benin—returned by France after being looted during the colonial era. Their repatriation sparks heated debate among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi. Some hail it as a diplomatic victory spearheaded by President Patrice Talon; others dismiss it as a cynical political gesture, even an insult, noting that over 7,000 pieces were stolen and only 26 have been returned.
Feelings of frustration and injustice are amplified by a deep, resonant voiceover from Haitian writer Makenzy Orcel, who personifies the treasures in a decolonial monologue that occasionally slips into poetry. The film presents these dilemmas with transparency, leaving questions hanging rather than resolving them.
Yet Diop’s atmospheric approach doesn’t quite summon the emotional weight the subject demands. While the mood is striking, the narrative offers little historical depth, leaving the reigns of kings Ghezo, Glele, and Béhanzin—and the broader cultural context—underexplored. In the end, the form feels more like a conceptual exercise than a fully engaging historical inquiry.
