Moi Et Mon Blanc (Burkina Faso, director S. Pierre Yaméogo): Mamadi is a doctoral student in Paris. He’s studying international law so that he can go back to Africa to change the political situation in his country. While working as a parking garage attendant, he finds a bag of drugs and money and decides to keep it. Along with his French buddy Franck (the blanc in the title, roughly translated as “white guy”), they travel back to Burkina Faso and decide to start a bar.
This was a light-hearted buddy movie, and it had its charms. Nevertheless, the plot and characterization were minimal, and there were some editing/continuity problems. The attempts to parallel people’s attitudes about race in both countries were a bit clumsy, as well, however well-intentioned. Still, I have to applaud a filmmaker from a country with so few resources for making such a good-natured film. The scenes in Burkina Faso, though less tight narratively, have an ease that lets you know the actor (and the filmmaker) is home. And home, despite the political problems and poverty, is where the heart is. Working with such limited resources, Yaméogo has done a pretty good job. I hope he gets to continue making films.
(6.5/10)
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