Part of this is because homosexuality is criminalised in many African countries. African films about queer people remain few and far between. It has been 25 years since Dakan was released, yet African queer cinema has still not taken off. But he kept his resolve and, thanks to his defiance, Dakan exists today as a source of strength to me and other queer Africans. He lost government funding and had to deal with an angry mob that tried to stop him filming. In Guinea, Camara’s home country, homosexuality is a criminal offense, punishable by up to three years in prison.Ĭamara defied many odds to make Dakan. Living in these places does not guarantee queer people complete safety from homophobia, but at least their very existence is not illegal and punishable by jail time. Many times, this “better place” is in some Western countries. The film also explores how persecution often forces queer Africans to leave their homes in search of a better place. Dakan’s message is even more pertinent today as conversion therapy remains prevalent in Africa, including in the form of physical abuse and corrective rape. Same-sex attraction is as natural as heterosexuality. And as though to prove her assertion, she kidnaps her son and dispatches him to a traditional priest tasked with exorcising his attraction to Sori. Manga’s mother says to him, “boys have never been attracted to each other”. He says to Sori “If God were fair, he’d let me bear your child”.Īnd then there’s the isolation where the characters suffer as the only queer people in their world. Manga worries that they are unable to procreate. The only representation of love and togetherness in their community is heterosexual. While Manga and Sori seclude themselves in a car on a deserted road, away from their overbearing parents and classmates, they worry about the fate of their relationship. These safe spaces allow people to express intimacy and vulnerability, but they do not – even momentarily – relieve the burdens of living in a homophobic world. Like Manga and Sori, most queer Africans cannot hold their lover’s hands in public, so must create safe spaces. To see a film in which the characters are not battling to accept their own sexuality –a dominant theme in many, even Western, queer-friendly films – dignifies the characters.Īlthough made more than two decades ago, Dakan feels oddly modern as most of the issues highlighted still affect queer Africans today. They wear their love proudly and demand that society let them be. They are not ashamed of their attraction to each other. In the film, Manga and Sori are not conflicted about their sexuality. What made Dakan especially outstanding is the portrayal of its lead characters. Unlike in Nollywood, the storytelling did not reinforce stereotypes of queer people or, worse, frame homosexuality as a consequence of rape or grooming. It was empathetic and honest in its depiction of what it means to be queer where it is taboo. I was delighted to discover a story about two African boys in love and one in which the narrative was not homophobic. In 2020, I stumbled upon Cinema Escapist’s list of the best film from each African country, and watched Mohamed Camara’s 1997 classic Dakan from Guinea. It is no surprise that when queer characters were depicted in films like Emotional Crack, Women Affair, Beautiful Faces, and even 2017’s Busted, queer people were caricatured as perverts and predators.Īs I grew older, I grew hungrier for more truthful storytelling. I had seen films where a rapist would not only be spared a comeuppance but receive forgiveness or even marry their survivor.
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Our film industry often excelled at reinforcing harmful misconceptions and was misogynistic. Even then, I was aware Nollywood could not be a judge of right or wrong. Seeing men attracted to each other meant I was not alone. Watching Men in Love validated those feelings. I was eleven at the time and struggling to understand my attraction to some of the boys in my class. It would be dishonest to say that the film offended me when I saw it. It is only after he is courted, drugged, and raped by Alex that – after initially being furious – he realises he is in love with his colleague. At the start of the film, Charles is heterosexual and married. The story of their “romance”, however, is deeply problematic. Released in 2010, Men In Love starred Nigeria’s Muna Obiekwe (Alex) and Ghana’s John Dumelo (Charles) as former classmates, turned business associates, turned lovers. The first time I saw two men in a romantic relationship was in a Nollywood film.