My sister Nyra often sends me moving reflections of the movies I share with her, as this note she wrote, after seeing «Les prières de Delphine», portrait of a beautiful 30-year-old woman from Cameroon, who was abused and resorted to prostitution to survive, who married a European white man and emigrated to Belgium. Hereafter Nyra's text:
"Delphine tells us her story from confusion, pain and from an imaginary that evolved from her extreme poverty and her marginalization. The resulting tone is part of an imaginary that, if we do not understand where and why it arises, we can take it for a lie and judge her as a shameless and even cynical woman. At one point, she says that she is an actress and as such she should be understood, as an interpreter who makes and remakes her own story to survive a reality that surely far exceeds her in pain and sadness.
"Delphine's tone and attitude arise from a sociocultural and economic state that we do not know because the media hides it from us: we intuit it, but we have no certitudes. It is a state of affairs that the media and capitalism are responsible for disguising to give free rein to their foreign debt programs and, incidentally, create stories of "empowerment" and "positivism" (which we will only see in 1 person out of 1 million poor), so that we continue to believe that everything is possible under capitalism. But the truth is that Delphine will always be seen as a human by-product wherever she is: in Cameroon or in Belgium. She is the daughter of extreme poverty turned into a by-product: black, poor, female, uneducated, African, object person, immigrant, unemployed, etc.
"On the other hand, the cinematographic image that the director offers us of Delphine is a masterful decision. It is a decision that implies a lot of sensitivity and maturity! It's a risky bet, but one that produces a harsh enclosing effect on the audience that hits you very hard. She forces you to listen, not to fantasize about Eurocentrism. It is an exercise in concentration from objectivity: Delphine.
"Of course we use the image for the obvious, to observe and measure Delphine's reactions, but if we put aside the obvious, it is there to weigh up the narrowness of her world, a world reduced to a room, a bed, a dirty wall that counts for a lot and too much, to an environment in total Western-style disorder, but from her native Africa it may have other readings and a terrifying fear of the outside, no matter how much she says otherwise. It's a cage per world, it's her head, her state of mind.
"I imagine that many will want to fantasize and see her socially docile and servile looking for a job and finding the understanding of a benevolent West, of the promised land, of the white husband who loves her, of a beautiful and friendly city. But the director, who has also experienced her own, makes it clear that despite the apparent social differences between them, both are women-black-immigrants in societies that will never accept them. Delphine does not know what to do to get out of that cage because her limitation is her own poverty, her fear of misfortune, of being punished. Then and as a resource, her imaginary leads her to prayer, and her prayers makes it clear to us that she feels guilt, she feels that she is to blame for her fate. I think the cruelest trait of poverty is making you feel guilty for being who you are.
"After listening to Delphine, I think that «Les prières de Delphine» is a film that contains a high range of variables that can be submitted to the right of equality, the theme of this year's BannabáFest. And I give it a round of applause. I was absolutely moved. Moved inside."
"Delphine tells us her story from confusion, pain and from an imaginary that evolved from her extreme poverty and her marginalization. The resulting tone is part of an imaginary that, if we do not understand where and why it arises, we can take it for a lie and judge her as a shameless and even cynical woman. At one point, she says that she is an actress and as such she should be understood, as an interpreter who makes and remakes her own story to survive a reality that surely far exceeds her in pain and sadness.
"Delphine's tone and attitude arise from a sociocultural and economic state that we do not know because the media hides it from us: we intuit it, but we have no certitudes. It is a state of affairs that the media and capitalism are responsible for disguising to give free rein to their foreign debt programs and, incidentally, create stories of "empowerment" and "positivism" (which we will only see in 1 person out of 1 million poor), so that we continue to believe that everything is possible under capitalism. But the truth is that Delphine will always be seen as a human by-product wherever she is: in Cameroon or in Belgium. She is the daughter of extreme poverty turned into a by-product: black, poor, female, uneducated, African, object person, immigrant, unemployed, etc.
"On the other hand, the cinematographic image that the director offers us of Delphine is a masterful decision. It is a decision that implies a lot of sensitivity and maturity! It's a risky bet, but one that produces a harsh enclosing effect on the audience that hits you very hard. She forces you to listen, not to fantasize about Eurocentrism. It is an exercise in concentration from objectivity: Delphine.
"Of course we use the image for the obvious, to observe and measure Delphine's reactions, but if we put aside the obvious, it is there to weigh up the narrowness of her world, a world reduced to a room, a bed, a dirty wall that counts for a lot and too much, to an environment in total Western-style disorder, but from her native Africa it may have other readings and a terrifying fear of the outside, no matter how much she says otherwise. It's a cage per world, it's her head, her state of mind.
"I imagine that many will want to fantasize and see her socially docile and servile looking for a job and finding the understanding of a benevolent West, of the promised land, of the white husband who loves her, of a beautiful and friendly city. But the director, who has also experienced her own, makes it clear that despite the apparent social differences between them, both are women-black-immigrants in societies that will never accept them. Delphine does not know what to do to get out of that cage because her limitation is her own poverty, her fear of misfortune, of being punished. Then and as a resource, her imaginary leads her to prayer, and her prayers makes it clear to us that she feels guilt, she feels that she is to blame for her fate. I think the cruelest trait of poverty is making you feel guilty for being who you are.
"After listening to Delphine, I think that «Les prières de Delphine» is a film that contains a high range of variables that can be submitted to the right of equality, the theme of this year's BannabáFest. And I give it a round of applause. I was absolutely moved. Moved inside."
