The Night Of Truth

The Night of Truth (La Nuit De La Verite) (2004)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Fanta Regina Nacro

Starring: Moussa Cisse, Georgette Pare, Adama Ouedraogo, Naky Sy Savane, Rasmane Ouedraogo

From: Several different French countries, although this is mainly a Burkina Faso production

Yes, I watched a movie from Burkina Faso... and it was legitimately well worth seeing: 

As the official March Around the World challenge has one of the rules this year be to watch at least one African movie not from Egypt, Algeria or South Africa... even though I am unofficially participating I figured I should follow it too. Amazon's video service now makes it easier to see at least one film from less established filmmaking worlds with the Global Lens Collection, by The Global Film Initiative. I plan on seeing a few other movies they offer besides this one. As for the country of Burkina Faso, it's in the Northwest part of the continent, a landlocked area surrounded by such countries as Mali, Ghana, and Niger. They've had their share of coups and when ranking countries in Africa by how successful they are or their economy, I'll just say they are not near the top. Regrettably, it was just a few hours ago as of the time I post this that the country received the bad kind of worldwide press... suspected Islamic extremists attacked the capital city of Ouagadougou. Note that I picked this then watched the movie before this incident occurred.

Strife within the country is the key plot point of this as it is all about a fictitious country in Africa where the government has fought with rebels for the past decade. Suddenly there is a truce, but naturally after the preceding 10 years featuring bloodshed and horrific atrocities (which a few times are both shown and said) there are plenty on both sides who are against this sudden peace without either side decisively winning. The feelings from both parties were vituperative. The movie is set during one day and night as the President and the leader of the rebels meet together in a show of solidarity, where naturally things don't quite go right. “Shakespearean” is a phrase I've seen a few use, and it's an apt term for this motion picture.

I had no idea what to expect from this film, which is a real rarity as it was directed by a woman, Fanta Regina Nacro. I was impressed with what I saw, featuring actors that may not have had a lot of acting experience at all. This kind of story is universal and yet it still had enough unique flavor related to Africa, a continent where a big reason why it's had all this turmoil since those countries stopped being territories back in the middle of the 20th century was because the country borders were determined by white Europeans with no regard to where the native tribes lived; no wonder that area has had so much turmoil.

Anyhow... don't let the obscurity of this dissuade you from giving this a shot.