Braving the Atlantic waves

Abstract

This article discusses three films that focus on migrants who departed from the Senegalese Cape Verde peninsula, braving the Atlantic in dugout boats (pirogues), in order to reach the Canary Islands. The year 2006 saw a phenomenal rise in migrants arriving undocumented at this key point of entry to Europe. Directors Idrissa Guiro, Moussa Sène Absa and Moussa Touré saw it as their mission to respond to this urgent humanitarian crisis by humanizing the all-too-common reality of failed migration. They use testimonies and autofictional narratives in order to give a voice to migrants and, in so doing, to influence public and political opinion. Guiro’s documentary film Barça ou Barzakh (2007) appears to be intended for a western audience and focuses especially on the socio-economic conditions that drive migration. Absa’s docufiction Yoolé (The Sacrifice) (2010), referring to Senegalese youth, is overtly political and targets Senegalese people as its primary audience. Touré’s fictional film La Pirogue (2012) tries to appeal to a wider national and international audience by compiling testimonies of would-be migrants and staging their attempted sea crossing. Detailed analyses of certain sequences reveal how words, images and music combine to convey the directors’ political and aesthetic goals.