LOG LINE

Interweaving archives and oral testimonies, the film questions how and why the Malagasies rebelled in 1947 against French colonial authorities.

 

SYNOPSIS

After World War II, 9.800 Malagasy soldiers travelled back to their island, Madagascar, on the liner named Ile-de-France. Upon reaching their homeland, they had no choice but to return to their “indigenous” status.

 

As independence of Madagascar was absolutely not on the French agenda, they became the leaders of a rebellion, harshly repressed by the Colonial authorities. The army staff claimed 89.000 deaths at the time. The police reports often mention that the insurgents - only armed with spears, machetes and talismans - resisted for more than 18 months in the bush.

 

Through written and oral testimonies, the film will explore the insurrection of 1947 in Madagascar, from a Malagasy point of view and will do so with the support of traditionnal divination tools.

 

TREATMENT

The story of the insurrection will be told from a Malagasy perspective and through direct witnesses. Only those who were present at the time will recount the events through their letters, diaries, reports, radio recordings, and especially oral testimonies. Their Individual trajectories from 1939 to 1949 will enlighten the historical background, with a special focus on 1947.

 

The narration will be structured through the dialogue of the filmmaker with a Madagascan seer, questionning the “Sikidy” divination seeds. The questions to the seer being more important than his answers, will be used to organize the facts and the chronology of the events. The divination in the Malagasy culture could be described as a kind of therapy, but mixed with mathematics, it helps you to understand what was done wrong in the past and that explains the present situation.