Republic of the Congo / All works
Cinema
La Chapelle
Jean-Michel Tchissoukou · 1979
Synopsis
In the Congo, under colonisation, a Catholic mission has settled in a village some thirty kilometres from the administrative post; it has opened a school there and asks the inhabitants to build a chapel. Attached to their traditions, they drag out the work, to the great annoyance of the priest, who relies on the sacristan and the village chief; opposite stands the healer-sorcerer. The arrival of Adouki, a young teacher with progressive ideas, and the jealousy of the schoolmaster open up a political game from which the priest means to profit.
Context
The film was released in 1979; critics regard it as the first production of the public film body, to which its author had been seconded, and Sébastien Kamba assisted him in making it. It takes the side of humour for a grave subject, the clash between the Church and the country's religions, and used actors from the training and research centre in dramatic art in Brazzaville. Its author had been Sarah Maldoror's assistant on Sambizanga in 1972. The Institut français du Congo screened it as a tribute in 2023.
Who it is for
About eighty minutes. The humour carries a critique that is better understood when set back in the colonial period.
Prizes and reception
Prize for African authenticity at the Ouagadougou festival in 1981; one of the first Congolese films made after independence.
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