Atlantique (2019)

The idea of haunting is often used as a good metaphor for the way the past stays with us, affecting who we are well into our futures. Writer/director Mati Diop uses this idea to powerful effect with her directorial debut Atlantique. This haunting little story is lovely and melancholy with an inspiring ending that brings some hope to what feels hopeless.

Her film is shot in a lush blue hue which gives it just a hint of an air of fantasy while she roots her film in a very real world. She focuses on marginalized workers, telling of how they are exploited, but finding a way to empower them, through the use of a fantastic narrative. Atlantique creates a feeling that justice is possible, perhaps even inevitable, that there may be a way for the voiceless to find a voice. It does this through the use of some sort of magic, a magic that traditionally has been used to represent evil and create a sense of dis-ease. But here it is used for the opposite. It is revelatory and revolutionary.

Atlantique is beautiful to watch. Diop finds beauty in each scene, in each landscape, and in the cold dark reaches of the ocean. Visually she also upends our expectations and subvert our assumptions. Her visuals strongly create a rich world for her story to play out in, a story of haunting beauty. Atlantique is contemplative but tells a compelling and entertaining story that grips you. And perhaps might haunt you just a bit.

Atlantique
Starring: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Ibrahima Traoré
Director: Mati Diop
Writers: Olivier Demangel, Mati Diop