Atlantics 2019, Mati Diop

Atlantics 2019, Mati Diop

For a debut feature, the film seems to take on an easy approach in the way it slides between the genres of romance, drama, and the supernatural. The assumption of the audience was teased by what sort of film it might be with the scenes. Workers demanding their wages but ending up going home empty-handed on the back of a truck. Characters demonstrating love albeit for a brief moment, just enough to set us alight. The element of comedy, romance, and even the kitchen sink drama take on a different appearance as it is placed right on the backdrop of the wealth and poor neighborhoods of Dakar. The ocean is never far from the screen as its presence presents a symbol, comforting but at the same time, threatening. As a genre film, it does have a lot to offer in terms of viewing pleasure, there is an engagement of the events in the film and the understanding of the audience.

Ada, played by Mama Sane is engaged to the son of a rich family who happens to work abroad. Despite this, she loves Souleiman, a touching feature to the film one might add, love brewing in Africa. The rich son makes his return to Dakar for the grand wedding and brings his fiancé a gift of a rose gold iPhone. This is in contrast to Souleiman who together with his fellow workers set off by boat with the hopes of reaching the shores of Spain. And this is the point that even the audience realizes that there is a transformation that is about to happen. Almost imperceptibly, the film becomes different from what it had started to be.

As a genre film, it fails to let go of its initial grounding as it presents the lives as well as the desires of the characters. The audience appeared to be caught up with the life of Ada, and the way it becomes unusual, it takes on the form of a ghost story that is unnerving, a fable of revenge and resistance that has supernatural elements to it. The daring use of simple visual effects as well as music orchestrates the creation of a mood of desperation, longing as well as anger. The plot twist further capturing the attention of the audience, when the night falls, strange things appear to happen in the city that causes worry. Demonic possessions, the same as which causes a fire that disrupts Ada’s wedding. The story becomes even more intricate, creating anticipation or even bracing for an apparent solution. This is the main appeal that the film creates; it is built more on the bedrock of cruelty that sees it extend more towards the family life as well as to the social structure of Dakar.

There is this darkness that the film genre creates as it looks into the world of mass migration, a soulless capital as well as a world that is filled with inequality. But the audience appears to know all this, it’s the twist and turns that gets them off guard. The characters getting caught up in their turbulent present as Souleiman risks his life in the ocean while Ada is caught up in a web of patriarchy and gender roles. Independence, as the audience would expect from the character, is in the film does come at a cost, least to say it is far-reaching as wealth appears to be raised high as the main proponent of social relations.

The horror that the film in its genre demonstrates doesn’t come from something supernatural as anyone would expect, but rather from the realities of life that are harsh. The director tries to square with these realities without exposing the misery but it appears to be sentimental to human life. It is an explosive piece of entertainment, but it is far from entertainment. It is more of an expose of the other side of the human reality where realism is more mysterious than what we would think. The transportive nature of a love story turns out to be a social commentary that is carried by the undercurrents of social critique that the audience enjoys.

The title does little to prepare one for what they are about to witness, the drama, the romance and also the mystery. There are imbalances in the knowledge of the African continent that are addressed as the film doesn’t work on dispelling stereotypes. The nature of narrative specificity does steal the hearts of the audience along with the connection between Souleiman and Ada. The melding of romance and fantasy comes undone with the presentation of realism of Africa’s migration story. There is no restraint in emotion as everything plays out the way it should. A subversive and dynamic look at life in Africa along with a fascinating backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean. It does manage to be a film that is filled with romance and hope, but its haunting presence is noted as well.