Vengeful Neocolonialism in Hyenas (1992)

When reflecting upon the conflicts that repetitively arise in Third World cinema, they are often inclusive of socio-economic development or regression being fought alongside a cultural threat. This is no different for Djibril Diop Mambety’s 1992 film, Hyenas, where an African village in Senegal is under the threat of gentrification due to a visit from a ghost of generations past returning to haunt the town. This ghost goes by the name of Linguere Ramatou, an elderly aristocrat who once was scorned by the town’s cruelty and has come back with the intention of destroying the man who caused her demise, Dramaan Drameh. Ramatou proposes a new solution to the town’s financial crisis; she will aid in their expenses and provide them with what they need to get their town back to economic stability if they kill Drameh in exchange. This promise begins to fuel the town as they rebuild the society around them, all at the cost of Drameh’s sanity.

Film has continued to be a medium for African voices since the development of the art form arising in the early twentieth century in Africa due to the slave trade. This is no different for Mambety, as he depicts the dependence on financial assistance from outside influences that many small towns in Africa have, reinforcing this concept of colonialism. Hyenas (1992) is the second feature film directed by Djibril Diop Mambety, and was the last to be made by the Senegalese artist before he passed away in 1998. Mambety’s one other feature film and small collection of short films resemble Hyenas with the common themes of political upheaval and cultural displacement. This film was made after a twenty-year-long absence from Mambety, but the relevance to Africa’s sociopolitical climate in relation to the film industry is still apparent. While Hyenas is an adaptation of The Visit, a Swiss play written by Friedrich Durrenmatt, the struggles faced by the African community of Colobane are even more disheartening when glancing at the story from a post-colonialism lens. As Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike states,

“As Mambety himself observed, the story shows how neocolonial relations in Africa are "betraying the hopes of independence for the false promises of Western materialism," and how Africans have been corrupted by that materialism,” (Ukadike, 1999).

This quote identifies the cycle of slavery that African communities have fallen into due to their cost of living being unable to be met, and their desperation to keep their towns above the poverty line. When Linguere Ramatou arrives back into town after many years of being gone, we discover that it is due to her exile from the town for being unwed and pregnant as a teenager. This causes Ramatou to work herself out of poverty by becoming a sex worker, which leads her to a wealthy and high position in society. This then guides her back to where she started in Colobane, completing the cycle. This time she is no longer a member of the community that is controlled by wealth, she is now the one in power and is able to revoke the town’s mental and emotional independence under the guise of being a financial aid. The town falls into her trap of materialism and has become victims to a new type of colonizer; a traitor of the forgotten city.

Djibril Diop Mambéty, Hyenas, (1992). Photo courtesy Metrograph Pictures.

Djibril Diop Mambety has been very explicit in his intention for the film Hyenas, one of his major concerns is to make the film as accessible to African audiences as possible so that they can recognize this pattern of colonialism and actively work against it, as he states, “With films de poche, we are trying to develop a way to distribute films in Africa. The first example is Hyènes, which is already a film de poche; there will be a whole series of these films. In a society that we call unreceptive to writing and reading, images must supplement the word,” (Ukadike, 1999). This technique to reflect sociopolitical issues through the art form of film is still being used today in Africa with more modern films like Five Fingers for Marseilles (2017) and Nafi’s Father (2019). With the increase in political films beginning to arise, it is easy to predict that soon many countries outside of Africa will begin to use this technique as well.

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References

Dia, M. (Director). (2019). Nafi’s Father [Motion Picture]. Senegal.

Mambety, D. (Director). (1992). Hyenas [Motion Picture]. Senegal.

Matthews, M. (Director). (2017). Five Fingers for Marseilles [Motion Picture]. South Africa.

Ukadike, N., & Mambety, D. (1998). The Hyena's Last Laugh. Transition, (78), 136-153. doi:10.2307/2903181