Adanggaman
New Yorker Films | Release Date: July 11, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Boston GlobeLoren King
The film's disturbing images are presented matter-of-factly, which makes them more powerful, not less. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The narrative motion is tricky; first it canters, then shifts into a heady, quick gallop. What's most fascinating about Adanggaman are the scenes that feel like anecdotal rest stops but that are actually building into a nuanced and engrossing whole. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
This one uses sweeping compositions of nearly solitary figures as a reminder of what individuals stood to lose, and an auction scene is horrifying -- some livestock and a basket of everyday items are exchanged for a man's future. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Beautifully filmed, but extremely painful examination of the African slave trade takes a difficult position: Rather than focusing on the white European superstructure, Ivory Coast director Roger Gnoan M'bala focuses on African complicity in the capture and selling of African people. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Ostensibly factual, helplessly self-conscious -- Adanggaman is being touted as the continent's first film about slavery as it was experienced on African soil—where the victims and enslavers were both native peoples. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneJohn Petrakis
The film doesn't always take advantage of its dramatic potential (except for its strong soundtrack), as it relies too heavily on scenes of crazed warriors in makeup and costume, running and screaming and jumping up and down. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
Well-acted and nicely photographed, and has good action sequences, even if the screenplay (by M'Bala, Jean-Marie Adiaffi and Bertin Akaffou) is simplistic and there are slow stretches. Read full review
60
VarietyDavid Rooney
Dramatically naive at times, but still represents a refreshingly ambitious, imaginative film in a period of creative underachievement for African cinema. Read full review
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