Sankofa, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Drama Turned Classic Black Liberation Film

Official film release poster courtesy of Amazon.com

The only way out is through. Haile Gerima’s 1993 film explores the horrors of slavery through the lens of a culturally ignorant model that gets more than she bargained for when visiting Ghana for a photoshoot. Sankofa features many elements of traditional historical slave films, while still adding an undertone of uneasiness, causing the viewer to constantly feel that they’re holding their breath.

The film follows Mona, a slightly oblivious American model played by Oyafunmike Ogunlano who finds herself in Ghana and stumbles upon a historic landmark that is connected to the capturing and transporting of slaves from the country. Throughout the film we are reintroduced to the concept of the buzzard being the source of transformation to and from slavery for Mona.

The primary languages spoken in the film are English and Akan, a language spoken in the southern half of Ghana. Chants sung in the start of the film by Sankofa, the self-proclaimed protector of the sacred grounds (played by Guy Warren) are examples of call-and-response, a concept that we as a class became familiar with through our readings this semester. The chants are sung exclusively in the Akan language and set the groundwork for the theme of “respecting the history of our ancestors”.

Many heavy topics are explored in Sankofa, from colorism, rebellion, sexual assault, and unrequited love to psychological trauma and murder of family members. We watch these themes play out through the eyes of the main character, Mona, who is called “Shola” when transported back in time to the Lafayette Plantation.

Most of the film takes place here but, interestingly enough, we as the audience aren’t given an explanation as to how Mona got there, and during her time at the plantation she herself never questions it. I assume it was supposed to be some kind of metaphor for Mona putting herself in the shoes of her ancestors, but this could’ve been made clearer by the director.

A slave called Nunu, played by Ghanaian actress Alexendra Duah serves as a mother figure for those on the plantation, and is frequently sought after for advice from other slaves. She is the mother of Joe, a slave of high rank whose conception was the result of a brutal rape by slavers during Nunu’s passage from Ghana to America.

Nunu, being born in Africa and remembering the feeling of freedom, yearns to free those enslaved at the plantation, while Shola (Mona) remains complacent until near the end of the movie. Nunu is one of the main players in a slave rebellion that will emancipate the enslaved from the horrors of the Lafayette plantation, but her plan is slightly changed when a shocking event changes everything.

While the rebellion is gearing up, Shola falls in love with Shango, a Jamaican slave that is called a troublemaker for his unwillingness to submit to the circumstances of slavery. Shango is also a huge player in the creation and execution of the rebellion and ties our story together by educating Shola (Mona) on the disgusting trauma of slavery and what it will take to abolish it.

The journey of Sankofa has many layers and tackles many of the nuances that existed during slavery that are still part of the African American experience in today’s society. In the end our main character Mona walks away from the experience having a newfound respect and understanding for the hardships that our ancestors had to endure. She would never again refer to herself as a “non-African” as she did early in the film.

Overall, Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima paints a beautiful, yet gritty picture of what it meant to be liberated both physically and in spirit in the world of Sankofa, beautifully illustrating the sentiments held by so many of our ancestors across the diaspora. The film is available to watch on Netflix, and is a fitting send off to Black History Month.