A Long Way from Home: African History, Politics and Identity in Ousmane Sembene's 'Black Girl'

A founding work of African cinema that depicts a young Senegalese woman's unhappy life as a maid in France, Black Girl is an angry denunciation of colonial exploitation and appropriation. As Cristina Álvarez López argues, it is also a moving and poetic film in its own right – one that, half a century on, is only now starting to receive the appreciation it deserves.

Additional keywords:
Beyond the Multiplex, senior secondary, Africa, Senegal, Jean Rouch, Third World cinema, identity, exploitation, history