Mati Diop considers Dahomey to be a “fantasy documentary”. A blend of sci-fi touches, duelling debates about colonial trauma, and footage of stolen artefacts being returned from Paris to their rightful home in Benin, Diop’s 68-minute feature explores the subject of restitution in a dreamy, sonically adventurous manner befitting the artistry of its treasures. In fact, one statue, a carving of King Ghezo, even narrates the film, declaring, “I did not expect to see daylight again.”
Beneath the genre flourishes, Dahomey is also a reminder of Europe’s colonial past. In 1892, French troops invaded and pillaged what was then the African kingdom of Dahomey, and is now the Republic of Benin. To make amends, France returned 26 artefacts from the Quai Branly Museum in Paris to Benin in November 2021. However, the act was a token gesture when considering that thousands of artworks were looted; if it took more than a century for 26 to be sent back, it’ll be multiple lifetimes before the restitution approaches five per cent.
Western people turned our ancestors into stereotypes, cinema is one of the keys to undo these stereotypes
– Mati Diop
In the first half of Dahomey, the camera follows the transportation of the 26 cultural objects via plane, sometimes crawling inside the claustrophobic crates themselves. In doing so, Diop, the 42-year-old French-Senegalese director, makes the artworks the main characters. By having Ghezo as the central narrator, she literally gives a voice to the artefacts. “Western people turned our ancestors into stereotypes,” Diop tells me at the bar in BFI Southbank while her film screens metres away during the London Film Festival. “Cinema is one of the keys to undo these stereotypes. The voice of the treasures embodies the Black soul. It had to be special.”
In a cinema, Ghezo’s robotic, pronounced intonations echo around the room, at points provoking laughter as he deadpans, “Not 27. Not 25. But 26.” In other words, the Dahomeyan king has a sense of humour amidst the darkness underpinning his despair. “The voice couldn’t be too light, or too austere,” says Diop. “It had to be fun, powerful, and also futuristic. There’s a Hollywood vibe. It’s almost like Transformers. I wanted it to be mysterious and scary.” She mimics gasping. “When you hear the voice, I want you to feel shaken.”
As the daughter of the musician Wasis Diop and the niece of Touki Bouki director Djibril Diop Mambéty, Mati Diop was born into the arts. In 2008, she was cast by Claire Denis as the co-lead of 35 Shots of Rum, which led to other acting gigs. However, Diop has spent most of her career concentrating on writing and directing. In 2019, she won the Grand Prix at Cannes for Atlantique, a Senegalese ghost story about a group of men who drown attempting to leave Dakar for Spain. With Dahomey, she was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.
Dahomey, 2024(Film still)
The prize for Dahomey is even more impressive when considering the last-minute nature of the project. Diop originally envisioned her follow-up to Atlantique to be a sci-fi feature narrated by an African mask. “It would describe in first person its journey from being captured in the 19th century up to a repatriation that would occur in 2080. I still think I should do it.” Diop changed her plans upon learning that restitution would occur in 2021, not as late as her prediction of 2080. “I had two weeks to set up a film. After I decided to have the artefacts speak, I thought the next voice should be a chorus of students. I saw it clearly in my head.”
Around the midpoint, Dahomey switches to an open discussion between Beninese students at the University of Abomey-Calavi who passionately disagree on the subject. One young speaker claims that returning only 26 artworks out of 7,000 is insulting, while another labels it political and “in no way historic”. Others, though, are elated at being able to witness these statues with their own eyes. “Before the debate, it’s like they’re silent scenes,” says Diop. “The information is technical. Suddenly, in the middle of the silence…” She makes an explosion noise. “The debate resonates. When people tell me the debate is the best part of the film, I’m like, ‘OK, cool, but it’s not about choosing parts. It’s the whole journey leading to the debate that makes it an experience.’”
Joining these two halves is an otherworldly score by Wally Badarou and Dean Blunt, the latter referred to by Diop as “the most talented musician of my generation”. After referring to her own background, Diop notes that Badarou is half-French, half-Beninese, while Blunt is a Brit with Nigerian parents. “It was important that the people who wrote the music have a deep connection with the historical matter. When I asked Fatima Al Qadiri to score Atlantique, it wasn’t just because I love her music – she was from Kuwait and knew about Muslim culture, djinns, spirits, and possession. It can’t just be that you love the music.”
Dahomey, 2024(Film still)
Ultimately, the final words are left with the Beninese students – if you think the debate is the best part of Dahomey, don’t tell Diop – whose passionate beliefs suggest their conversation will continue far beyond the release of the movie. The event, which was shot twice, was set up by Diop who handpicked the individual speakers. “I think the restitution was taken hostage by the presidents of France and Benin, who made it [about them],” says Diop. “I wanted to hear from the Beninese youth on these issues of colonialism legacy.” She frets about the wording. “Well, the viewpoint of these students in particular.”
When I question how neutral Diop could be if she picked the students, she compares it to being a professor at a university dedicating a class to a single issue. “My work as a filmmaker and metteur en scène was to create a frame where a speech can really exist,” she says. “There was no debate organised by the university. I did that. It was important that these students should be encouraged to take part in this historical chapter. Because there’s this censorship in Benin, people like professors, filmmakers, and artists should encourage the youth to speak up. I allowed them to speak their own words.”
Dahomey is in UK cinemas on October 25