Contemporary Western Critique in Third World Cinema

This essay will look at three films by three different directors, all of whom are Third‐World born, European‐ (higher) educated, and whose films have all investigated the legacies and effects of postcolonialism as it relates to those having acted both colonizers and colonized. The films are made up of two documentaries, I’m British but... by Gurinder Chadha and Lumumba: Death of a Prophet by Raoul Peck, as well as the semi‐fictional Pièces d' Identités by Mweze Ngangura. Even though the latter of these directors have directed documentaries as well, of which in no doubt touches upon very similar themes as the other ones looked at here, I have chosen Pièces d' Identités deliberately in that it in its insertion of historic newsreels footage aims to transgress conventions of the single‐genre film, and that can thus remain a relevant subject in this comparative study. Interestingly enough, that particular footage is used in Death of a Prophet as well, which, again, establishes a close correlation between the films. More specifically, this paper will examine the issue of postcolonialism through the lens of so‐called “Third Cinema,” a fairly recent genre that these directors have all helped establish. In addition, I will argue that this mode of genre attempts to reverse the now historic, imperial Western gaze and instead turn the former colonizer into the critical object of study. The outcome, I will attempt to prove, is an examination of a post‐colonial Europe towards which those assimilated into it often experience complex emotions of both optimism and rejection.

But in order to pursue this study of what I deem be prime examples of Third Cinema‐films, offering a definition of what such films exactly constitute, and perhaps just as...

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Guneratne, Anthony R., Wimal Dissanayake, and Sumita S. Chakravarty, eds. Rethinking Third Cinema. London: Routledge, 2003. Google Books. Web.

I'm British But... Dir. Gurinder Chadha. Mongrel Media, 1990. Moodle. Web.

Kaplan, E. Ann. Looking For the Other: Feminism, Film, and the Imperial Gaze. New York: Routledge, 1997. Google Books. Web.

Lorimer, Douglas A. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation by Mary Louise Pratt. The Journal of Modern History 68.2 (1996): 429‐31. JSTOR. Web.

Lumumba, La Mort D'un Prophète. Dir. Raoul Peck. Velvet Film, 1990. Moodle. Web.

Pièces D'Identités. Dir. Mweze Ngangura. Perf. Gérard Essomba. California Newsreel, 1998. Film. California Newsreel. Web.

Pierre‐Pierre, Garry. AT LUNCH WITH: Raoul Peck; Exporting Haitian Culture to the World. The New York Times 8 May 1996: n. pag. The New York Times. Web.