Library of African cinema. Le grand blanc de Lambaréné /

Cameroonian filmmaker Bassek ba Kobhio provides a fascinating revisionist perspective on Albert Schweitzer, Noble Peace Prize winner and secular saint of the colonial era. Like Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask, this film begins to rewrite the history of colonialism from the point of view of the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Online Access: Full text (MCPHS users only)
Other Authors: Bassek Ba Kobhio, 1957- (Director, Producer)
Format: Electronic Video
Language:French
English
Published: San Francisco, CA : California Newsreel, 1995
Subjects:

MARC

LEADER 00000cgm a2200000ui 4500
001 in00000072881
006 m o c
007 cr |n||||||||a
007 vz |za|z|
008 170920s1995 cau089 e o vufre d
005 20240625140138.8
035 |a (VaAlASP)ASP3644083/marc 
035 |a (OCoLC)1009111378 
035 |a (OCoLC)on1009111378 
040 |a ALSTP  |b eng  |e rda  |e pn  |c ALSTP  |d OCLCO  |d OCLCF  |d OCLCQ  |d WYU  |d S9I  |d OCLCO  |d OCLCL 
041 0 |a fre  |j eng 
043 |a f-go--- 
245 0 0 |a Library of African cinema.  |p Le grand blanc de Lambaréné /  |c California Newsreel presents ; [directed and produced by] Bassek Ba Kobhio ; une coproduction L.N. Production [and others]. 
246 3 1 |a Great white of Lambarene 
246 3 1 |a Great white man of Lambarene 
246 3 |a Grand blanc de Lambarene 
264 1 |a San Francisco, CA :  |b California Newsreel,  |c 1995. 
300 |a 1 online resource (89 min.) 
306 |a 012920 
336 |a two-dimensional moving image  |b tdi  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a computer  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
337 |a video  |b v  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a online resource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
347 |a data file  |2 rda 
380 |a Videorecording 
500 |a Title from resource description page (viewed September 20, 2017). 
508 |a Photography, Vincenzo Marano. 
511 1 |a Andre Wilms, Marisa Berenson, Alex Descas, Elisabeth Bourgine, Philippe Maury. 
520 |a Cameroonian filmmaker Bassek ba Kobhio provides a fascinating revisionist perspective on Albert Schweitzer, Noble Peace Prize winner and secular saint of the colonial era. Like Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask, this film begins to rewrite the history of colonialism from the point of view of the colonized. Le Grand Blanc de Lambaréné is not, however, a facile exercise in iconoclasm but rather a deeply-felt lament for a missed opportunity, for a cross-cultural encounter between Africa and Europe which never happened. Shot on the site of Schweitzer's hospital in Gabon, Bassek ba Kobhio elicits psychologically complex portrayals from his actors as he did in his earlier California Newsreel release, Sango Malo. Behind Schweitzer's impenetrable reserve, Ba Kobhio discovers a man blinded to the people around him by his own spiritual self-absorption and arrogance. For Schweitzer to see himself as a stern but loving father, he had to cast Africans as childlike primitives whom he could protect from the temptations of modernity. He even refused to install electrical generators or institute modern sanitation in his hospital's wards. In the film, an African boy Schweitzer discouraged from becoming a doctor, returns with his degree and rebukes him: "The independence of the people has never been your concern. You only wanted to share their hell in the hope of reaching your heaven."The film reveals that the ultimate tragedy of colonialism may have been its refusal to see and value the colonized as autonomous, creative human beings. Schweitzer knew numerous European languages but never learned to speak the local tongue; he was an accomplished organist and Bach scholar who never evinced any interest in African music. Ba Kobhio represents the richness of Africa through Bissa, a beautiful concubine the local chief gives le Grand Blanc. Though clearly tempted, Schweitzer remains aloof; only at his death does he invite her to sleep in his bed rather than on a mat. The film's epigraph, ironically, is a famous remark by Schweitzer himself: "All we can do is allow others to discover us, as we discover them." 
546 |a In French with English subtitles. 
600 1 0 |a Schweitzer, Albert,  |d 1875-1965. 
650 0 |a Missionaries, Medical  |z Gabon  |z Lambaréné (Moyen-Ogooué) 
655 7 |a Feature films.  |2 lcgft 
655 7 |a Fiction films.  |2 lcgft 
700 0 |a Bassek Ba Kobhio,  |d 1957-  |e director,  |e producer.  |1 https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJbWrdYP3y7vbf3R9xg9Xd 
710 2 |a California Newsreel (Firm),  |e presenter,  |e production company. 
710 2 |a L.N. Production,  |e production company. 
758 |i has work:  |a Le grand blanc de Lambaréné Library of African cinema (MovingImage)  |1 https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PCGvjHYqV9vVpMXymCMXgYX  |4 https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/ontology/hasWork 
852 |b E-Media  |h Alexander Street Press 
856 4 0 |u https://ezproxymcp.flo.org/login?url=https://www.aspresolver.com/aspresolver.asp?MARC;3644083  |z Full text (MCPHS users only)  |t 0 
938 |a Alexander Street  |b ALSP  |n ASP3644083/marc 
938 |a Alexander Street  |b ALSP  |n ASP3644083 
947 |a FLO  |x avon 
999 f f |s 75b4c000-c4b0-4302-9153-c896316d3ac8  |i 886360af-d7ac-4c79-ade3-31cd8c0a3489  |t 0 
952 f f |a Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences  |b Online  |c Online  |d E-Media  |t 0  |e Alexander Street Press  |h Other scheme 
856 4 0 |t 0  |u https://ezproxymcp.flo.org/login?url=https://www.aspresolver.com/aspresolver.asp?MARC;3644083  |y Full text (MCPHS users only)