I would like to list here and comment on some films that have had a good (read: shaking) effect on me. I’m rather omnivorous with cinema but most of all I like realism and all forms of subversiveness and the should-I-cry-or-should-I-laugh kind of comedy that derives from a realistic setting. Documentaries and stories that hang on the edge between comedy and tragedy or fragmented and non-linear plots that leave the viewer slightly disturbed are all a go-go!

I first thought of making a top 10 list of my all time favorite films, but it would not do justice to any of the works - I cannot put them in any order of preference really. So I’ll just keep coming back to this post every now and then with an update and start today only with the one by Djibril Diop Mambety:

  La Petite vendeuse du soleil     

I just saw it on dvd again the other night, the story puts me on such a good mood! I think even every Dakarois pickpocket should see this film and be ashamed of themselves when they discover Sili, the small girl with polio, who decides to help her blind grandmother by selling newspapers in the streets of Dakar. Sili beats the street boys in selling, and she is not discouraged for one little moment despite some setbacks that come her way.

   Das Leben der Anderen by Florian Henckell von Donnersmarck

 This one too is a must! It’s shows what life is like in the former German Democratic Republic behind the iron wall and under the omnipresent surveillance of Stasi, the secret police. Hardly the first film to tell how communism affected the life of individuals, but this one has a very interesting angle - it shows how the system itself can threaten and destroy those who are running it. I felt a heavy weight on my chest throughout the film - very enjoyable indeed! 

  Mahamat Saleh Haroun: Daratt (Tchad, 2006)

This must have been the first Tchadian film I have ever seen, a great story on how a young boy is able to resist to some of the terribly burdening expectations that are put on on him by his family. Silent and beautiful suspens.  

Adam Sie: Oumy et moi (Senegal, 2006)

Such a sweet documentary on the relationship of the Sierra Leonais director and her Senegalese girlfriend who is albino. So fresh views on young love and prejudice surrounding their commitment to each other.

  Joseph Gaï Ramaka: Karmen Geï (Senegal, 2001)

An adaptation of Prosper Mérimées text and Bizet’s opera à la Sénégalaise, simply empowering! I love the fact that it is through an African adaptation that some viewers may be first introduced to this classic work! 

Justine Bitagoye: Mieux vaut mal vivre que mourir (Burundi, 2006)

If you saw Darwin’s Nightmare, you know the category. Apocalyptic scenes that raise awareness of the status quo of many African cities: people - even small children - live in a dumping area, in this case in the centre of the Burundi capital, and eat what the carbage van pours on them. 

If you ever need to choose whether to see Aki Kaurismaki’s latest film Lights in the Dusk or Abderrahmane Sissako’s Bamako, my vote goes definitely for the latter. As it happened, I saw these two yesterday and the day before and the contrast just strikes me: Both directors give voice to the underpriviledged of the society, be it Finnish or Malian/African but I left the cinema after Kaurismaki’s film as numb as his characters, who stare into the emptiness and utter their dull so-called dialogues. Where the hell is the flesh and blood of the story? Perhaps it’s not fair to compare two so different works, especially when I really like some of Kaurismaki’s previous films, but I cannot help thinking that this latest one is almost elitist, oxygen-lacking snobbery.

On the contrary I urge you to see Sissako’s latest, where globalisation is put on trial and Malians speak their minds. You’ll see testimonials by real persons such as Aminata Traoré -former Minister of Culture and Tourism - or Samba Diakité who chants his testimony, and plenty of others. They will not let you leave the cinema undisturbed.

Maybe writing down my resolution in a public blog makes me just that little bit more determined: This year I have decided to learn much more than the about five words of Amharic that I know so far. Since there are no courses of Amharic at sight, I’m on my own in the beginning. Indeed I will be looking for a teacher in the near future - the embassy has already promised to help me in the matter. 

I can already picture myself in the Rift Valley or in Piazza in Addis and this time this time the ferenji is better equipped! Or: I can begin to look at the ancient texts written in Ge’ez in a whole different light…

I sometimes wake up in the night into my own “shouting” when I’m having a nightmare. In the dream I shout or scream but in reality I make a deep low noise that sounds like the moaning of an animal, as if a cow was in labour or something. UUUHHHH! UUHHH! Last night was different: I was suddenly half awake and scared to death in the dark because I was sure someone had entered the room during my sleep. I shouted with a shaky voice: Who are you? Tell me! Who are you? several times before I understood that the dark shape I was staring – my eyes were almost hurting because so wide open – was the wardrobe. I must have been expecting a burglar or a murderer to briefly introduce himself before committing his crime! Not to mention that it would have been more reasonable to ask my questions in Wolof in hope for an answer.

The effect of the malaria prophylaxis seems to have taken new forms: when earlier I had one horror night a week the night after taking the stuff, now the secondary effect is strongest when the one-week-cycle is ending and it’s time to refill.

It’s again that time of year to start a new, better, brighter and healthier life. Quit smoking, take up a new hobby, do your homework (or whatever duties) e v e r y  d a y punctually, exercise until all your ligaments are in shock after their dormant state so abruptly disturbed, and so forth.. I have decided only to welcome back certain routines that I am fond of: regular writing - goes without saying in the student business – and the gym. For quite some time now I have wanted to start with something new and I am now very entousiastic about the idea of learning to dance à la Senegalese, though I am not sure if my old bones are up to such a challenge. A while ago I saw some suburb schoolchildren practise a dance performance and was mesmerized by their talent,  there’s so much playfulness in the way the Senegalese do it! Last night I saw a TV show with Coumba Gao Seck and at the end of the show she was invited to dance by an old lady, who despite her age and impressive grand boubou was all hands and legs in the air when the drums beat!

In this part of the world there seems to be no need for an expensive health club membership with the extra service - if you sign up for 10 years - of free towels or eucalyptus-scented saunas… go to the beach instead and be inventive! The atmosphere on the beach is quite unique: Someone is praying or preparing for a prayer close to the wall of the Layene Mausoleum while many others are doing sit-ups or running backwards up and down the slopes of heavy sand; some swim, while others wash their trousers or goats a little further away; stray dogs loll in the sand or compete with the eagles on the leftovers of the fishermen’s catch… a few Toubabs have come for a walk away from the dust and the noise of downtown Dakar; here you have to be on your guards only about sudden horse carriages passing by, or footballs. The place is all sports!