Feature film
The Great White Man of Lambaréné
Le Grand Blanc de Lambaréné
Bassek ba Kobhio · 1995
Synopsis
At Lambaréné, in Gabon, the young Koumba grows up to the sound of Doctor Schweitzer's organ and dreams of becoming a doctor like the “great white man”. The missionary runs his hospital as a patriarch, treats Africans as children to be protected and refuses to modernise it. During the Second World War, medicines run short; after the death of the village chief, a slap given to Koumba's father makes anger rise. Back with his degree, Koumba opposes the doctor, as the country moves towards independence.
Context
Shot in French, the film is its author's second feature; it is co-produced by Cameroon, Gabon and France and shot on the site of the hospital itself, on the banks of the Ogooué. André Wilms plays Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize winner, opposite Marisa Berenson and Alex Descas. It offers an African view of a figure hitherto celebrated, and critics read in it a postcolonial reworking of this myth. Little seen in the United States, it is much discussed in the French-speaking world; Vincenzo Marano's cinematography is praised.
Who it is for
In French, subtitled, a little over an hour and a half. A few points of reference on Albert Schweitzer and his hospital shed light on what the film calls into question.
Prizes and reception
No award found for this film. Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur, Variety and Écrans d'Afrique reviewed it on its release.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.