Black and White in Color: Colonial shenanigans in World War One Africa

By Albert Ohayon

Black and White in Color (La victoire en chantant) (1976 France-Côte d’Ivoire-West Germany-Switzerland, Jean-Jacques Annaud)

Synopsis: A group of French ex-pats, living in Africa in 1915, find out belatedly that France is at war with Germany. Driven by patriotic zeal, they decide to form an army consisting mainly of Africans to attack a German outpost nearby. Predictably, the result is disastrous.

This incredibly funny satire marks the directorial debut of Jean-Jacques Annaud (he also co-wrote the screenplay) who would later go on to make Quest for Fire and The Name of the Rose, among others. It tells a comical story that is also shocking. Basically, a handful of French citizens living in French Equatorial Africa receive newspapers dating from six months back where they see that France and Germany are at war. Although they are on friendly terms with the Germans living in the nearby colony, they decide that they must do their part in the conflict and vow to attack the German outpost.

The problem is, they only have six men, two of which are priests, and a grand total of one soldier. What to do? Simple, conscript an army of Africans, give them one day’s training and attack at all costs. The young geologist of the group, Mr. Fresnoy, is dead set against this foolish idea and offers to go speak to the Germans but is overruled by the patriotic ex-pats. To get the Africans to join the army, they offer them each a cooking utensil (!) and a new French name. The soldier of the bunch, a middle-aged man named Sergeant Bosselet, knows that this idea is suicidal but he goes along to show that he isn’t a coward.

The ex-pats decide that a surprise attack is the only way to go. While the French men and their wives (dressed to the nines) sit down to a picnic (!) a safe distance from the battlefield, the rag-tag army goes off to attack. Of course, this turns out to be a catastrophe.

The rest of the film shows Fresnoy taking over the leadership of this group of French idiots and using the local tribes to help protect the outpost.

This ridiculous premise is used by Annaud to poke fun at colonialism and show just how racist the colonials of the era were. The Whites are constantly abusing the Africans. They treat them with contempt and expect them to fight for France no matter what. The priests are particularly pathetic. They go from village to village exchanging crosses and religious statues for articles the Africans use to worship. Once they have made these exchanges, they burn what the Africans gave them. The Whites never walk anywhere. They have bearers carry them across the jungle. The colonials are quite absurd. They think that they will make a stand, shoot at the German outpost and everyone will return without any problem.

There are many hilarious moments in the film. At one point the priests are being carried by the Africans who sing a song in their language about how heavy the Whites are and how their feet stink. One of the priests then says how much he loves that song, obviously having no idea what it is about. Then there is the sequence where the Africans are conscripted. The sight of them standing at attention with brand-new kitchen utensils in their hands is quite ludicrous.

The last third of the film focuses on Fresnoy running the outpost. He takes on an African wife which does not sit well with the others. I felt the film ran out of steam at this point (it is hard to top the picnic sequence). There is one final twist at the end when the French are “rescued” at the end of the war. I won’t spoil it but it has Annaud poking fun at colonials of another nationality.

This very funny satire won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in 1977. It is certainly worth your time. I give it 3 and a half ex-pats out of 5.

(at the time this article was published, the film was available to stream in its English dubbed version on TubiTV, Plex and on YouTube)