Atlantics
“Atlantics depicts Islam with matter-of-factness: No explanation, no exoticization, nor hiding some of its uglier practices.”
Title: Atlantics (2019)
Director: Mati Diop 👩🏾🇫🇷🇸🇳
Writers: Mati Diop 👩🏾🇫🇷🇸🇳 Olivier Demangel 👨🏼🇫🇷
Reviewed by Murtada Elfadl 👨🏽🇸🇩🇺🇸🌈
Technical: 5/5
Atlantics opens in Dakar, the Senegalese capital. Souleiman (Ibrahima Traore) and his fellow construction workers are being swindled by a corrupt contractor, so they decide to leave by boat to Spain in search of a better life. Unfortunately, that also means Souleiman must part from his love, Ada (Mama Sane), who now has to marry the rich man her family chose for her. The film unfolds like a police procedural at first, but eventually takes the plunge into the supernatural when following what happens to Ada and all those left behind by the young men who took that consequential boat trip.
Atlantics marks Diop’s first narrative feature, yet the filmmaking and storytelling feel audacious. She takes narrative leaps lesser filmmakers would fear, as Atlantics actually comprises several stories, each bolder than the one before. The story never goes anywhere you would expect, and Diop’s mastery of form and narrative truly jumps without a safety net. She trusts the audience to follow along, even while disregarding screenwriting rulebooks or familiar hooks. The element of surprise keeps us watching and entrapped.
All the while, eerie images of the Atlantic ocean loom like danger, like promise, representing both the unknown monster as well as the only salvation and means of escape. The centerpiece of the film is a riveting scene that tells the audience what happens when the film’s migrants leave the continent in the dead of the night in small, unsafe boats. They are taking that life or death risk because they’ve run out of options. Instead of flashing back to the events of that night, Diop frames the scene as a tale told by the ghosts of the men coming back to share their story. This way, she pushes us deeper into the narrative as the viewer’s imagination is bigger than anything that could be captured with a camera. Instead the actors’ voices and emotions—and the ever ominous visual of the Atlantic Ocean—envelop the audience as we piece together what transpired.
After I saw the film this scene haunted me for days, perhaps because I had once made that decision too. My journey wasn’t so perilous, though I did leave behind everyone and everything I knew. It’s something you never recover from, and Atlantics captures that feeling truthfully.
Gender: 5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES
While the film starts off with Souleiman’s scenes, Diop turns the table and bends toward a love story. Underneath even that, the film eventually reveals its true interest: exploring the character of Ada. Not unlike the recent adaptation of Little Women (2019), marriage for Ada poses a question of money. Can she abide marrying someone she doesn’t love because the union will provide for her and her family?
In addition to Ada, Atlantics makes space for her female friends who have been left to deal with the repercussions of their boyfriends and brothers leaving. While the women talk a lot about “the boys” in their scenes together, the film is mostly concerned with Ada coming into her own as a young emancipated woman in a patriarchal society. In fact, all the women in the story eventually assert their power and demand what’s theirs, culminating in a tender scene where Ada’s hair is braided by her friend Dior (Nicole Sougou) while they both indicate that their friendship and newfound resolve will carry them through.
Behind the scenes, Diop, the editor, cinematographer, costume designers, and composer are all women. The film has been lauded for its cinematography by Claire Mathon and for the evocative score by Moroccan musician Fatima Al Qadiri.
Race: 5/5
Black faces and bodies fill the screen in close-ups and medium range shots throughout every single scene. Diop could have been afraid to play into stereotypes about the African continent by adding mysticism and supernatural elements to the story, but those elements are handled deftly and with a sure hand because she’s from there. She’s African. While she was born in Paris, her family is Senegalese. Diop put her heritage and her history into a singular vision, and the results are tremendous.
Bonus for Religion: +1.00
Atlantics depicts Islam and Islamic traditions with matter-of-factness. No explanation; no exoticization; and no hiding of some of the uglier practices, like virginity tests. Islam is simply baked into the way of life within the story.
Mediaversity Grade: A+ 5.33/5
In Atlantics, Diop crafts a unique and deeply enveloping world filled with unforgettable images and transportive sounds. While the story takes many detours, it’s rooted in the reality of African migration to Europe and shows new insights into why it happens, and the effects on those left behind.
Like Atlantics? Try these other titles featuring the occult.
The Fits (2016)
Hereditary (2018)
The OA - Season 1