Sankofa

3 Pages 625 Words

Sankofa

In the film, Sankofa, it is not difficult for me to understand what’s meaning of Sankofa. Throughout the film the meaning of word Sankofa is strongly emphasized The director of this film, Gerima, shows that why we must go back and experience our past so we can understand why and how we came to be and who we are today. He depicts the cruel injustices that the African slaves went through. Gerima tries to be as honest as possible to the audience what life was like for an African slave between the 17th and 19th century. Unlike Hollywood films which tend to be fast paced and action-packed, Sankofa, lays itself out slowly, however, its content and cinema photography are very detail and realistic in its cultural and historical representations of the African colony
Through Gerima’s techniques; mysterious use of the drums, music, story telling, and breath-taking images of Africa, he invites audience to journey into the past, as Mona, a contemporary model reclaims her roots. Another important characteristic of the film is that Gerima depicts each slaver as being fundamental existence to the story. Unlike Hollywood films, in which slaves are portrayed as working together cooperatively, in Sankofa they are all different. Each character has a different background. For example, Shango, the most rebellious character in the film is from the Caribbean. Nunu, one of the most influential characters in the film was born in Africa and brought over to the plantations in the United States. Shola, on the other hand, was born in the United States and raised as a slave there and is perhaps the reason why she was more passive than some of the other slaves. Therefore, each character represents a different point of view of slavery and each has her/his own aspirations, beliefs, and desires which is what gives the film a lot more depth and interest.
I would strongly recommend Sankofa to anyone who has a problem to find out the identity th...