Camp de Thiaroye

Director: Ousmane Sembene and Thierno Faty Sow
Year Released: 1988
Rating: 3.0

African soldiers who served with the French in World War II are sent back to a camp in their homeland where they're poorly fed and regularly disgraced by their French masters; when they've finally had enough and stage a revolt, the French take them out with tanks. Sembene, who based this on his own novel (and, in effect, his own involvement in WWII), as always takes his time in developing his scenarios and characters - though he gets preachy in parts (and goes to the extreme in others), his insights into colonialism and racism (there's a great conversation between a black American G.I. and an African sergeant; earlier, the Africans equated "American whites" and "American blacks") are invaluable. It's not without subtle humor and an attention to little details, which can be credited to Sembene's main career as a writer.