Thackway Melissa. Africa Shoots Back: Alternative Perspectives in Sub-Saharan Francophone Film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press/Cape Town: James Philip/Oxford: James Currey, 2003. x + 230 pages. Illustrations. Bibliography. Filmography. Index. $65.00. Cloth. $ 27.95. Paper.

LITERATURE AND THE ARTS Melissa Thackway. Africa Shoots Back: Alternative Perspectives in Sub-Saharan Francophone Film. Bloomington: Indiana University Press/Cape Town: James Philip/Oxford: James Currey, 2003. x + 230 pages. Illustrations. Bibliography. Filmography. Index. $65.00. Cloth. $ 27.95. Paper. Except for the enormous video production of Nigeria and Ghana that began in the early 1990s, filmmaking in Africa south of the Sahara has remained extremely constrained by scarce funding and severely limited distribution. Still, a substantial body of films has accumulated since the first feature films were directed by Africans in West Africa in the 1960s, and some of them have gained wide international recognition. Most of these film have been produced in the former French colonies, where filmmakers have had access to a measure of funding from French government agencies. Africa Shoots Back provides an excellent account of the films produced by filmmakers from Francophone Africa over the last four decades, even if the omission of Ngangura Mweze, the prominent Congolese (Kinshasa) filmmaker, is surprising. As Thackway explores various topics, she touches on a large array of films. Many she discusses in considerable detail, and these substantial accounts cover just about all the major films from the region, including those, quite numerous, that have been shot in an African language and are thus not "Francophone" stricto sensu. Her summary dismissal of Idrissa Ouedraogo's classic Yaaba, however, leaves a notable lacuna. Thackway provides a wealth of information, but the lack of references to the sources for some of it is a matter of regret. Throughout she draws on interviews she conducted with eight directors: Adama Drabo, Anne Laure Folly, Dani Kouyate, Fanta Regina Nacro, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Abderrahmane Sissako, Cheick Oumar Sissoko, and Jean-Marie Teno, all but two at FESPACO 1995. These interviews are presented in the French original with an English translation in an appendix. Thackway starts out with an accomplished overview of critical approaches to African film and their pitfalls. While highlighting their post-colonial character, she stresses the diversity of films from Francophone Africa and the need to evaluate them on their own terms rather than projecting preconceived ideas about what constitutes an African film. Adopting a contextualizing approach, she establishes cultural identity, representation, and voice as key issues in these films. She proceeds to argue the central importance of the tradition of orature and offers an extended analysis of the structural and stylistic influences of oral traditions on many films produced in the region. Her discussion ranges from the adoption of the tale structure in films that often feature griots and their craft, to the use of allegory and satire, narrative layering, circularity, repetition, and musical leitmotifs. She further explores the use of archetypal characters and thematic influences, in particular the theme of the quest and the introduction of supernatural elements. Thackway's analysis of the role of orature in African film will stand as the classic exploration of this important topic. However, her strong focus on the role of oral literature risks neglecting other models that African filmmakers draw upon. The temptation is twofold: an emphasis on elements that can be related to oral traditions tends to omit other elements derived elsewhere, and some of the elements taken to reflect oral traditions might just as well be traced to other sources. …