Passage du milieu (2000)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Guy Deslauriers

Writers (WGA):

Claude Chonville (written by) and
Patrick Chamoiseau (written by) ...

Release Date:

14 February 2001 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A realistic look at the horrors of the slave trade, told entirely through the voice of a dead African slave whose spirit haunts the ocean route. |

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Djimon Hounsou	...	Narrator (US Version)
Maka Kotto	...	Narrator

Also Known As:

The Middle Passage (International: English title)

Runtime:

Canada:78 min

Country:

France | Martinique

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

France:U

Company:

Les Films du Dorlis

Self Indulgent Mess

It's unfortunate that an event of the magnitude of the shipment of millions of people across the Atlantic Ocean receives this sort of treatment. The movie is essentially a set of montages set to narration of an African taken captive and put on a slave ship bound across the ocean.

Unfortunately, the movie fails to really explain anything, it's an interesting mix of documentary and fiction, but the thing is dripping with appeals to pity rather than a real depiction of human beings. Pathos is everywhere, unrelenting--with brief glimmers of slave heroism. There's a real story to be told here, one that can engage the viewer with a real history and communicate the horrors of what actually happened. This isn't it. Unfortunately it's a common affliction--"Roots" failed, "Amistad" failed, there must be a way to depict this important event without such an unfortunate misguided mindset that turns real people into two dimensional cartoon victims.