The Death of Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl and its Consequence on the Struggle of the Black Race

Suicide could also be an act of rebellion but it preaches hopelessness and offers no answers at a time when we need hope and answers.

Ousmane Sembene is unarguably one of the finest filmmakers that this world has seen. I have had the privilege of watching ‘The Black Girl’ twice and my most recent watch was at the Kwara State University ‘Citizens of Isma Film Screening’.
When I first watched it, I focused on Diounne’s mask. How its significance changes throughout the play. From the little boy’s plaything, to Diounne’s asset, then to a gift given from the goodness of her heart as a sign of friendship, and in the end to Diounne’s asset or identity which she struggled to get back and did get back.

She bought, then gifted the mask to her employers in the thought that they will come to have a healthy relationship. When she found out, in France, that theirs was to be a Master-Slave relationship, she wanted her mask back and she took it back unapologetically. She then died. I enjoyed the story and admired the depth of the whole thing.

When I watched Sembene’s ‘The Black Girl’ a second time, something pinched me – the nature of her death. Major characters die all the time. In fact, death is often the gateway to becoming heroine or deity. However, for me, Diounne’s death was made mere.

Before her death, she got to lean towards her rebellion instinct and that was powerful. She confronted her oppressors and decided not to engage in the oppressive tasks which she was given, like taking care of their children without pay. That was also powerful. It was quite impressive that she returned their money - her pay - to them, while she took back her mask.
The underwhelming part of this film that has come to be one of the most powerful films the world has seen is her committing suicide. The film sends a message to the oppressed. It asks that you stand up to your oppressors. It asks that you become emancipated. But suicide? No. Indeed, there is a well-accepted proverb in my part of the world, Yoruba, that “death is more preferred to disgrace”, yet those were not the only options on the table. Fighting was not explored enough.

Now Diounne was an immigrant in France. She was most likely undocumented and was at the mercy of her masters who were French citizens. But Diounne understood French. That was language with which she communicated with her Masters until her death.
It has long been established that people identify with one another based on shared features like language and the colour of one’s skin. It is often what makes up ‘we’ and ‘them’.

Although saddled with different layers, ‘we’ and ‘them’ is always created based on shared identities. At some point in the last decade, I found myself in a part of my country where the culture and language was different. Almost everyone in my country has a brown skin, our languages and cultures are however, very different. Upon arrival at that city, I took a taxi. In the taxi, I received a phone call from a friend at home and spoke in my native language, the driver heard me, looked at me through the rear-view mirror and spoke to me in my native language to let me know that we were ‘omo iya kan’ (meaning: sons of one mother - brothers). He gave me a free ride and also gave me some heads up on the goings on in that city. Throughout my stay in the city, people from my ethnic group treated me as one of theirs and at a point even protected me from harm. All these because we had the same ethnicity. This advantage should have also been available to Diounne.
In France, even at that time, there were people around who shared similar features with Diounne like the colour of her skin and the French language. An evidence of this is seen at the French airport where she landed. People with brown skin were there too. Diounne’s stay in France was limited to her Masters’ apartment, but when she decided to rebel, she should have been made to explore beyond that apartment, just to make a statement to the oppressed that there is power in community. When she leaves that apartment she can communicate with anyone because she understands French but she can look for other people with Brown skin who would most likely be around doing menial jobs. She could struggle till she finds one that identifies with her and together they find a way to survive the situation and maybe even thrive.

Now this kind of ending sends a message of hope and encourages us to unite and build strong communities with which we can thrive. Suicide could also be an act of rebellion but it preaches hopelessness at a time when we need hope and it offers no answers at a time when we need serious answers.