Med Hondo Movies
Filmmaker Hondo Med, originally from former Arab country Mauritania, began his cinematic career as an actor in Paris in the mid '60s. There he founded the performance group Shango. The script for his first feature film, Soleil O, a gritty examination of the experience of immigrant workers in France, was written in 1965, but the film wasn't actually made until 1969 with a miniscule budget and the help of a few acting friends. The film, selected for the Cannes Festival's Critic's Week, was considered controversial for its negative portrayal of the treatment of immigrants, and French diplomats requested that the film be banned in several African countries. This did not prevent Med from making politically charged features and documentaries many of which were highly critical of imperialist attitudes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2001
Corruption threatens to move into a heretofore idyllic village in this comedy-drama. Hector St. Rose (Med Hondo) is the mayor of a seaside community in the Antilles Islands, a French-controlled territory in the West Indies. Hector has long been determined not to sacrifice the well-being of his constituents in order to make the village more attractive to tourists, which has made him popular with his citizens, but not so much so with outside developers. Some unscrupulous businessmen who want to locate in Hector's community decide to sway his opinion by kidnapping his wife, but the scoundrels don't count on the high regard in which Hector is held, both by the island's current residents and those who have moved away. Antilles-Sur-Seine was written and directed by Pascal Legitimus, with Med Hondo setting aside his usual directorial duties to appear as leading man. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Med Hondo, Chantal Lauby, (more)
- 1998
A black street sweeper and a white bank executive lose their jobs on the same day in Paris, and Wantani: Un Monde Sans Mal follows what happens to them as we study their respective fates. The banker has trouble finding a new job but lies to his wife about his problems, while continuing to spoil his daughters. Eventually, he falls in with a group of racist thugs at a local bar and starts to tag along with them as they attack blacks and Arabs out on the streets after dark. The street sweeper, however, is left homeless by his firing, and is soon forced to take shelter at a local church when local employment agencies and social service organizations allow him to fall through the cracks. Despite all this, he and his family maintain their dignity as they band together with other poor immigrants to keep body and soul together. Independent filmmaker Med Hondo shot this feature on digital video; it became controversial after Hondo publicly contested the French ratings board's restrictive designation for the film, which cited its violence. Hondo, however, argued that the violence of the film was merely an honest reflection of the realities the film was meant to criticize. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Poivey, Coumba Awa Tall, (more)
- 1994
This French political thriller demonstrates that justice does not always win out when faced with a corrupt government system. The setting is modern Paris during a time when it was suffering a series of terrorist attacks. Guyot works for Air France as a hologram engineer. He has a dark and mysterious past. One night while driving close to an airport, his best friend is shot by two policemen for no apparent reason. He takes it to the authorities who claim they acted in self-defense. When he discovers that the only eyewitness, an illegal African immigrant, was hastily deported. Believing that Internal Affairs has launched a biased investigation, Guyot takes off to Africa in search of the witness. He finds him and records his testimony, but while creating a hologram that would prove the killer's identity, he is killed. One honest, but world-weary cop close to retirement, decides to take a stand and crack the case. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Poivey, Inês de Medeiros, (more)
- 1986
Sarraounia was co-produced by financiers in both France and the country of Burkina Faso (formerly known as The Upper Volta). Mixing equal parts fact and fiction, this historical epic traces the rise of 19th-century Queen Sarraounia of Azna. Sarraounia holds her place in a traditionally patriarchal society by sheer physical strength -- and, according to legend, she is also an accomplished sorceress. In 1899, two xenophobic French officers go on a mission to thwart the uprising of Sultan Rabah in the Cameroon. Ignoring orders from the French government, these renegade officers kill anyone who crosses their path. But then they come face to face with Queen Sarraounia . . . . Lynn Watts plays the title role in this 130-minute adaptation of the popular book by Abdoulaye Mamani. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lynn Watts, Jean-Roger Milo, (more)
- 1983
Tunisian director Ferid Boughedir also wrote and produced this verbose yet uninformative documentary on the history of African cinema, choosing excerpts from 18 different films that may not have been the best segments to make a strong statement for the genre. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Med Hondo, Ousmane Sembene, (more)
- 1969
- PG
Heron of Foix (Assaf Dayan) hears the call of the ocean and leaves his school in Paris to walk to the sea. He meets the fair Claudia (Anjelica Huston) and the two fall in love and journey together to escape the ongoing Hundred Years War. They witness the brutal and bloody murder of a peasant who is drawn and quartered by the sadistic Sir Meles (John Hallam), the unforgiving tax collector who hates the poor. The couple seeks refuge in a monastery where the Father Superior (Anthony Nicholis) refuses their request to be married. This slow-paced but beautifully lensed feature marks the screen debut for Anjelica Huston. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Assaf Dayan, Anjelica Huston, (more)
- 1968
Zita, portrayed by Katina Paxinou, is a Parisian widow who has suffered a stroke. She is cared for by her niece Joanna Shimkus, who chafes under the responsibility and wanders off. Shimkus falls in with thieves and lowlifes, finally ending up in jail. She is bailed out by her family doctor (Paul Crauchet), but soon she's back in her old seedy nightclub haunts. While making love to jazz musician Jose Maria Flotats, Shimkus begins reminiscing about her childhood with her aunt. Somewhat chastened, a more mature Shimkus returns home to resume her duties--but by this time, Aunt Zita has died. The film's sympathies are squarely with the niece, whose "escape" from her aunt is meant to represent her final break from childish dependency. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joanna Shimkus, Katina Paxinou, (more)
- 1967
In this WW II drama, twelve captured French soldiers await their impending executions in a German prison camp. Fortunately, a wily resistance fighter and his men come to rescue the ill-fated dozen. The rescue attempt succeeds, but the rebels become worried when they discover a thirteenth prisoner who has come with the others. This fellow carries no ID, and now the fighters must decide whether he should die on the spot or continue on with the others. One of the group members votes for immediate execution. Later the stranger accompanies the group on a raid and ends up nearly sacrificing his life to save a child from being shot. The rebel leader is not impressed and orders that one of the men kill the stranger down by the river. The dutiful soldier listens to the stranger who tells him the truth: he is a deserter and a fervent pacifist. The soldier allows the deserter to escape. That night the stranger returns and tries to warn the rebels of a Nazi ambush. The group leader heads off to warn the others, but he is too late and they are all recaptured. Later all but the pacifist are hanged. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michel Piccoli, Bruno Cremer, (more)
- 1967
A native of Mauritania is delighted when he is chosen to work in Paris. Hoping to parlay the experience into a better life for himself, he eagerly prepares for his departure from his native land. Although an educated man, he has extreme difficulty finding work and an apartment. He sees racial inequity as blacks are relegated to manual labor while less skilled whites are given preferential treatment. A dinner with a liberal white friend even reveals a continuing attitude of colonization towards third world countries. The disappointed man runs off to the woods where he hears the far off cry of the jungle drums calling him home from a cold and indifferent land. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Liensol, Theo Legitimus, (more)
