Dahomey is one of the best documentaries of 2024

With her first feature film since her Cannes contender Atlantics, Mati Diop uses the documentary form in unusual ways to weave together a narrative about heritage, colonialism and identity. In November 2021, 26 treasures from the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) were returned. The arrival of these artefacts — just a dozen among thousands of stolen items, pilfered in the late 1800s by French soldiers — in their ancestral home represents a moment of intense and contentious public debate. Challenging the confines of nonfiction, Diop structures the film around the narration of one of the statues, a likeness of King Ghézo, whose mystical and all-seeing eye offers context and perspective on the events.

As the film opens in Paris, the handful of items are packaged by museum workers. Their journey from darkness to light draws the viewer into their perspective, imbuing the relics and art with life. As we re-emerge in Benin, the country is decorated with celebratory posters and banners welcoming the statues home. Much of the second half of Dahomey takes place in the halls of the University of Abomey-Calavi, where students debate the significance of the event. Some are jubilant, pleased by the opportunity to witness history. Others are melancholic, even angry, as they express frustration over the continued colonial significance of the return. As most of the statues and works remain in Paris, is this gesture merely a means to pacify or a sincere effort at reconciliation?

Diop’s skill as a filmmaker allows Dahomey to transcend mere documentation. She breathes life not only into the statues but into Benin. In the film’s final chapter, we see Benin through the eyes of King Ghézo. It’s a scintillating and poetic sequence of movement and intimacy through city streets overflowing with people. Capturing the loneliness of this long-dead king returning home to a land that is no longer familiar, with his jubilance of reuniting with his people, the sequence situates the viewer in the now. It’s a movie not only about contemporary Africa, but an Africa of the future. The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. ■

This review was originally published as part of our TIFF 2024 coverage.

Dahomey (directed by Mati Diop)

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