The Silence of the Forest

A film about the difficulty for even the most well-intentioned person to know and respect another culture. In this case, the problem is so acute that there is even heated debate over what to call that 'other.' The subtitles in the film use the familiar word 'pygmies,' a relatively pejorative European term; the Bantu or villagers' expression for the same group, Babingas, carries similar negative connotations. These highly specialized, tropical rainforest hunter-gatherers should perhaps be called by their own ethnonym, Aka, MoAka (sing.) and BaAka (pl.)

6

93 min

Cast

Ériq Ebouaney

as Gonaba

Nadège Beausson-Diagne

as Simone

Sonia Zembourou

as Kali

Philippe Mory

as The Prefect

Director

Bassek Ba Kobhio

Didier Ouénangaré