Dahomey: a stamp in time

I don’t need to hear rapturous applause or raving reviews in the lobby to know a film’s importance. Dahomey serves a very specific, very important, very beautiful purpose - to document the moment the Beninoise got 26 of their Treasures back from the French, and the conversation they all had culturally around it.

It functions almost more as a historical document (the irony) - an artefact for the future, a way of having on film the very essence of what the moment meant to Benin, what significance and what complications, and it maps this in both visual and verbal means.

It provides a window into Dahomey, and Beninoise culture as a whole, for the uninitiated (of which I count myself), and it strongly transports you into the fray, without any sense of rush or speed.

A fantastic film for the more politically minded, and for anyone curious about the history and present day Benin, and how it fits into the global conversation.