Good evening,
good morning, good afternoon to you all. I hope this article finds you well today. I hope you're all keeping merry and safe during this festive season.
Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to another film that I came across recently. That is the African Doctor. I watched this movie a second time recently, I think I enjoyed it a lot more this time, but I had also noticed a few misgivings in the film that I didn't see in The African Doctor the first time.
This movie follows Seyolo Zantoko (played by Marc Zinga), a graduate from Medical school in Lille. He is the only African graduate from his class and among his circle of friends. Seyolo gets a job offer to go and work back home in Zaire ( now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Congo for short).
That job was a rather prestigious one as well; he was going to go and be the personal doctor for President of Zaire (fancy!), one which he was not in a hurry to take. Instead, he had opted for a job in Marly-Gomont, a small village in the north of France. In his eyes, he sees the opportunity to get French citizenship for himself and his family. Sadly his wife and kids heard France and thought of Paris (to be honest, if I were in their shoes, I would have done the same).
As the story goes on, we see that the Zantoko family has a hard time adjusting to the rural lifestyle in Marly-Gomont. To add to their misery, the villagers don't do a great job of welcoming the Zantoko family, a new addition to the town. Why? Because the villagers had never seen black folk before, so they started acting all shifty, treating them differently. What made all of this frustrating to watch was seeing Seyolo, who was utterly oblivious to his children's struggles at school, or his wife feeling lonely, as she was so far away from home, from her friends and family.
As the film goes on, we see a beautiful connection between the Zantoko family and the villagers. They start to use their common sense, see someone for their character, their personality, not their skin color. 1975 is when this storyline occurs, and to think that the concept of treating others with respect is still alien in 2020, crazy, right?
I felt that the cinematography and the overall visuals helped to tell the story beautifully. The imagery was almost poetic at times, and I am a sucker for visuals staring into space. The use of color, a big kudos for that one. I admire how they implemented the colors of the set, the clothes through the lighting and post-production.
The acting performances from Marc Zinga and Aïssa Maïga( she plays Anne Zantoko, wife of Seyolo) were exceptional, and in all honesty, they are what carried the film. I was somewhat disappointed with the storyline. I found the storyline to be too simplistic. Julien Rambaldi explored many themes on a surface level rather than a deep-diving into the societal issues present in rural France. The filmmakers probably didn't want that.
I feel as though this movie's objective was to create a good feel, have you leaving the film with your heart warmed. It did all of that and more. I cannot help thinking that there was so much more potential for the storyline throughout. Overall I would recommend this film, you can find it on Netflix. I think you will get a good laugh out of this if this is the type of movie you want to watch. If it isn't, I would suggest you look elsewhere, I'm afraid.
Please leave your thoughts and comments down below or on my socials. I hope you have enjoyed this!
Till next time
Twitter: bfunkmo
Instagram: bethel95
Picture reference:
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/393764-bienvenue-marly-gomont
https://www.missiontix.net/es/filmfest-dc-african-doctor-1
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