Sankofa: A Review

Sankofa: A Review

The film Sankofa by Haile Gerima has bended the ideas of time and space in which the heroine, Mona and subsequently the audience are taken to the past which witnesses the terrible series of brutalities against the black people in what is commonly referred to as the African Holocaust. The major portion of the film focuses on past events, but however, it is apparent Gerima wanted to portray the film with the intent of making this film a piece that would be providing direction for the present as well as for the future (Kandé & Karaganis, 1998).

Gerima's film Sankofa is powerful and sweeps the audience of their feet through the brutal ways in which the persecution of the black slaves is portrayed. The title of the film has been derived from the Akan language spoken in Africa which means a return to the past with the purpose of going forward. The commencing scene of the film opens in an ancient fortress in Ghana. This was the place where the slaves were kept before being shipped to America. The scene shows tourists visiting the site as a fashion model; Mona is getting ready for a photo shoot. It is at this stage that an elderly person wearing native robes confronts the tourist and reprimands Mona asking her to return to her past. Unmoved, Mona returns to the ground floor of the castle only to find that she is about to be transported as a slave to a plantation in South America. She objects that she is an American but these fall on deaf ears. She finds herself a slave (Kandé & Karaganis, 1998).

The films continue amidst a plot that is unique in featuring the horror of slavery and signifies this evil trade by focusing on the brutalities ...