The Revolution Won't Be Televised dir. by Rama Thiaw (review)

The Revolution Won't Be Televised, directed by the Mauritanian-Senegalese director Rama Thiaw, is a documentary film about the peaceful mobilizations and demonstrations of the Senegalese population during the presidential elections of 2012. In disregard of the term limitations of the 2001 Senegalese Constitution, Abdoulaye Wade, who had been in power for twelve years, presented his candidacy for a third term. The film, whose title was inspired by the 1970 song by the American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron, shows a revolution that, as the film title says, was disregarded by the media. Its main focus is a citizen movement known as Y'en A Marre (I Am Fed Up), led by the Senegalese rappers Thiat, Kilifeu, and DJ Gadiaga from the group Keur Gui. The Revolution Won't Be Televised is a film about a country in the grip of change, where music and resistance are entangled in the social struggle over a democracy established in 1960. Made by a mostly Senegalese production crew, the film was shown at Berlinale (The Berlin International Film Festival), where it received the Fipresci International Critics' Prize.

Rama Thiaw's debut film, Boul Falle, The Wrestling Way (2009), also tackled the subject of a citizen movement, in this case the one inspired by the reelection of former Senegalese President Abdou Diouf (1981–2000). Whereas Boul Falle features the national sport, wrestling, as a form of resistance, The Revolution Won't Be Televised features music, and specifically hip-hop music, as a form of everyday activism. This "is a way of life, is a long journey," the filmmaker declared at London's Film Africa festival in October 2016. The movement was joined by people from all generations and social backgrounds; we see younger and older citizens, women as well as men at the frontlines of the demonstrations, participating in the protests, going out to vote, complaining about Wade, and expressing their frustrations

The Revolution Won't Be Televised takes us to exterior spaces, such as the main areas where the demonstrations took place, in the financial center of Dakar, at Independence and Obelisque Squares; the electoral schools where the population was voting; the different regions where rappers Thiat and Kilifeu campaigned against Wade; and performance spaces where Keur Gui offered concerts. It also takes us into interior spaces, filmed in observational and participatory style, such as in cars and homes, where discussions were held and strategies were developed. These interior and exterior shots are intertwined with a range of multimedia formats such as video-recorded interviews and extracts of music videos. The transitions between these images—with abrupt shifts of film rhythm, graphics, editing effects such as split screens, and flashes—make up a multimedia piece that has to be viewed as a product of urban culture.

But while the film is an insightful take on an underreported or misrepresented revolution, the extent to which the film sheds light on how elections operate in Senegal is questionable. The film seems to be more about Keur Gui and its role in the mobilization than on the political situation that motivated the demonstrations. The proposals put forth about whom to vote for in opposition to Wade were unclear, and the fact that Macky Sall was elected in the second runoff in March is not even mentioned in the film. These omissions may be the result of an intention to shift the discourse away from elite political actors toward the participants themselves. The narration is guided by the poet and filmmaker Khady Sylla, who died in 2013 when this film was in production and to whom the film is dedicated.

The Revolution Won't Be Televised can be understood as part of a broader corpus of African films about political resistance in which music is also a prominent feature. Examples include Beats of the Antonov (directed by Hajooj Kuka, 2014), Life Is Waiting (directed by Iara Lee, 2015), As I Open My Eyes (directed...