Dahomey

At only 68 minutes, “Dahomey” brims with plenty of perspectives on what the restitution of these ancient treasures symbolizes and the dicey political implications around it.

A welcome companion to the rich textures and spirits of Diop’s lauded feature film, Atlantics, Dahomey offers itself as a site of essential reflection and a necessary reminder of the living poetics that cinema is capable of.

The French-Senegalese film-maker ... has certainly not taken the conventional approach while pondering an increasingly contentious area of postcolonial discourse. But this remains a lucid piece of work that lays out its arguments in sharp fashion

Diop dutifully, powerfully, yet poetically captures the complexity of a colonizer’s undoing so that we all can bear witness to the start of a resolution -- or, at the very least, restitution.

“Dahomey” packs a lot of introspection and heart into its brisk 68 minutes.

Diop borrows a classic Disney trope, straight out of Toy Story, to imagine the inner life of an inanimate artefact... It’s a captivating motif and allows Diop to highlight some sobering ideas within the rolling monologue.

Diasporic sculptures must start a dialogue with us. [Full review in Spanish]

A substantial work brilliantly asking if removing art from people is stealing a part of their being.

An interrogative and poetic meditation on constructing national identity in the face of a colonial legacy.

Dahomey infuses artistic panache into its timely story of the painful reclamation of one’s heritage.