Camp de Thiaroye (1988)

Camp de Thiaroye (also known as The Camp at Thiaroye) is a 1988 Senegalese war-drama film written and directed by Ousmane Sembene and Thierno Faty Sow.

The film entered the competition at the 45th Venice International Film Festival, in which it won the Special Jury Prize. The film depicts the Thiaroye Massacre, which happened in Thiaroye, Dakar, in 1944.

The film is about the mutiny by and mass killing of French West African troops by French forces on the night of November 30 to December 1, 1944. West African conscripts were protesting poor conditions and revocation of pay at the Thiaroye camp. The film is a criticism and indictment of the colonial system.

The film documents the events leading up to the Thairoye massacre, as well as the massacre itself. The film received positive reviews at the time it was released and continues to be heralded by scholars as an important historical documentation of the Thiaroye massacre.

The film was banned in France for a decade and censored in Senegal as well.

Synopsis

Des tirailleurs sénégalais venus des colonies de l'Afrique-Occidentale française, anciens combattants de l'armée française et prisonniers en Europe durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, sont rassemblés avant leur démobilisation en novembre 1944 au camp de transit de Thiaroye au Sénégal. Soumis à divers humiliations, ils apprennent enfin que le montant des indemnités et pécule qui doit leur être payé (arriéré de solde, pécule, prime de démobilisation) sera divisé par deux.

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