Film review: On a le temps pour nous
On a le temps pour nous (There is time for us) is an intimate moving-picture portrait. It is a portrait of the rap artist Smockey (Serge Bambara). And it is a portrait of revolutionary democracy in Burkina Faso. It is a gripping, intense, almost pungent piece of film.
The film was shown as part of Scotland’s Africa In Motion (AiM) film festival, on the same day as its director, Senegalese film maker Katy Léna Ndiaye, gave a documentary masterclass that was co-hosted by AiM and the Scottish Documentary Institute.
Smockey is an artist and an activist, a cultural provocateur and a political protagonist, often playing both roles simultaneously. Whether he’s rapping into a microphone or speaking through a megaphone, he is a powerful orator with a knack for connecting with people. He was a leading member of Balai Citoyen (Citizen Broom), the movement and the popular uprising that ousted the dictator Blaise Compaore in 2014.
This crossover between activist and artist is perfectly illustrated during a car journey as Smockey describes an incident from his past. In the story he is addressing a large crowd of protesters, encouraging them to temporarily disperse to avoid being charged by hundreds of riot police. He is successful but, as he steps down from the podium, his phone rings and he is berated for being late on stage and unprofessional by the playwright of a theatre show that he is appearing in. The show is about the uprising. Smockey reflects on the irony…
“If my reality had met fiction, her fiction hadn’t met any reality... It was hard for her to believe that everything we’d experienced and created on the stage was happening in front of our eyes.”
Smockey (far right) working with army generals to enable a transition from dictatorship to democracy in 2014.
In her masterclass, Ndiaye described the approach she took to earn Smockey’s trust, and the process by which he gradually revealed himself to her, and us, as Serge Bambara. It was an exercise in patience, respect and restraint. Ndiaye trained as a journalist, but she knew that asking questions would only elicit what she described as “formatted” answers from a wary and media-savvy Smockey. Instead she placed herself and the camera “by his side.” Ndiaye talked about how she tries to make films with people, not of people. She wants people, particularly women, to be subjects of her films, not objects. She wants her audience to feel that they are meeting her protagonists, not watching them.
At Smockey’s side.
It works. When we’re with Smockey, we are shoulder to shoulder or face to face. He lets Ndiaye into his world and into his personal space. We’re with him as he improvises new lyrics, we’re with him as he relaxes and shares revolutionary anecdotes with friends.
In her masterclass, Ndiaye talked about the importance of having a point of view as a documentary filmmaker, and how this required her to suppress some of her journalistic instincts. On a le temps pour nous is an opinionated film, particularly with respect to democracy. Smockey has a deep distrust of politicians but a strong democratic instinct to place as much power as possible in the hands of citizens, and to trust their streetwise political wisdom. There is a revealing conversation in which Smockey takes a friend to task for saying that the people are not ready for democracy, that they first need to become more politically educated.
“You say these people must have a certain IQ level. That’s bullshit! ... Despite not having this information, these guys are far more objective and far more realistic than all those pseudo-intellectuals who went to school, useless idiots who are up to their eyes in diplomas.”
Smockey begs to differ.
Smockey’s trust in the deep political wisdom of ordinary people is vindicated in a sequence where he addresses an open air town hall style gathering in the Karpala district of Ouagadougou. In an open-mic session it is made abundantly clear that local people are able to identify political priorities and to suggest better pragmatic political solutions than the elected officials who usually live outside the district that they are supposed to represent. Smockey urges the gathering to become more politically active. “You must agree to take your destiny into your own hands,” he says, urging them to chase away the “old crocodiles” of politics as usual.
Smockey knows that true democracy requires all hands on.
On a le temps pour nous is a film about transition. Smockey was a part of his nation’s transition from dictatorship to nascent democracy. Now he himself is in transition. How does he channel his passion and conviction, now that he has achieved his primary objective? There is a telling sequence when it becomes apparent that neither he nor his friends are particularly impressed by the incumbent regime. Smockey is challenged to start a movement to remove them from power but stridently refuses to do so on the basis that the government was voted in via a fair and transparent election. He may not like them but he respects their legitimacy. He firmly insists that a government that is fairly installed by election should be fairly removed by election.
Deafening silence
On a le temps pour nous is a work of power but also a work of beauty. Ndiaye and her production team have created some stunning sequences which combine stock footage and original film, overlaid with a soundtrack which combines Smockey’s music with periods of silence that create an absence that is every bit as intense as white noise.
For All Hands On, On a le temps pour nous is a timely reference point. Patrick is not long back from filming people’s assemblies in Malawi. We hired an entirely local crew, deliberately including a female camera operator, in an attempt to avoid as far as possible the pitfalls of filming African subjects from an outsider’s perspective. The citizens that spoke to us in Malawi demonstrated the same deep, natural political wisdom that Smockey so appreciates in the people of Burkina Faso. We aim to show as much respect to our subjects as Ndiaye does to hers.
On a le temps pour nous is well worth seeking out. At the time of writing it appears to be doing the festival circuit before general release. You can view the trailer on the homepage of Indigo Mood, Ndiaye’s production company website.