Tamango

I have been waiting for a Blu-ray version of this movie. It is a great movie. The storyline is good. It is a precursor to Roots in showing the trans-Atlantic slave trade and how slave traders continued to break international law after slavery was abolished in some European countries.I was a little apprehensive about purchasing the Blu-ray version of this movie because the picture quality of the DVD that I purchased several years ago was pretty bad. However I took a chance and glad I did. The picture quality is excellent! The audio is clear. Don’t expect surround being that the movie is 61 years old.

When I was 7 years old I saw the ads of «Tamango» in the press and the cinemas as I passed them by, but when I was old enough to see it (it was classified "for adults only") it had vanished from sight. Now that I finally watched it, when it was finished I was in awe. What a good film! Of course it does help that the final 10 minutes are simultaneously tense and poetic leading to a highly dramatic ending. But six decades after its original release, it is still a motion picture of strong content and great visual impact (although the copy I saw is not in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the colors have faded). Released in 1958 it is an adaptation of Prosper Mérimée's 1829 homonymous novella (before he wrote his most famous «Carmen»). Significant changes were made for this screen version, but the final plot is also set in the early 19th century. In the coast of Guinea, warrior Tamango (Alex Cressan) and a sizable group of men and women have been sold to Reinker, a Dutch slave trader (Curt Jürgens) and they board the ship Esperanza that sets sails to Cuba, where they will be sold again, this time in the slave market. On route the violent conflict between the Caucasian sailors and the black slaves intensifies, the interracial sexual liaison between Reinker and a beautiful African woman named Ayché (Dorothy Dandridge) breaks, and Tamango leads a mutiny against the slavers. In the final script that went through significant re-writing due to Dandridge's insistence (who also refused to wear costumes that were offensive to the African woman, as designed by a Parisian designer), Ayché and Tamango are no longer lovers, he does not sell her but the two are victimized, and instead of surviving in Kingston the warrior fights until the end. These script changes turn Tamango and Ayché into icons of racial struggle, while the sincere, intense passion Reinker feels for Ayché is one of the first screen recognitions of the Europeans' desire for Africans. In the time it was made «Tamango» must have been some kind of a political and educational «audiovisual pamphlet», invaluable for those who were involved in the fight for the civil rights of Afro-descendants in the United States and elsewhere. No wonder it was banned in a few countries, and surely not only for the Reinker-Ayché relationship. I saw the English-spoken version: it becomes a bit hard in the first scenes to accept Dandridge as an African girl, with her American accent, but one gets used to it and thankfully she only has the necessary dialogue. Cressan, a medical student from Martinique that only made this film, is a magnificent emblem of African male beauty; and Jürgens, as usual, is fine as the villain with a soft heart. Director Berry was black-listed during the witch-hunting craze led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, and, after directing the cult film «He Ran All the Way», he went to Europe as Joseph Losey, Cy Endfield and Charles Chaplin. Berry also directed the romantic comedy «Claudine» about a couple of African-American workers, but he remained in France until his death.

A story of a revolt on a slave ship was actually around prior to the more recent Amistad but unfortunately, few seemed to have much interest in it judging from the limited distribution of this film when it first appeared in the conservative atmosphere of the 50's. It was actually banned in France. The objection of course, was the interracial relationship between slave ship captain Curt Jurgens and his slave mistress Aiche (Dorothy Dandridge). When a revolt occurs, Dandridge as a marginalized person tries to stay uninvolved, even though she has some attraction to the revolt leader Tamango. She is not really liked by the African captives as she has "given" herself to the white captain and is, of course, viewed as a slave by the white crew members. Curt Jurgens, as a slave ship captain is obviously not the nicest person in the world but seems to have some genuine affection for Aiche and treats her comparatively well. Aiche has suppressed bitter resentment about her slave origins and treatment by former masters and still has hopes for a possible future better life with Jurgens, even after she finds out he has plans to wed a white woman and live in Holland. However, when confronted he claims he will stay with Aiche and even make her a free woman. When the revolt begins she is forced to make a decision where her loyalties lie and tragedy occurs.There are a few problems with this film beyond low budgeting. The African captives, Jurgens and crew, all mysteriously speak the same language to each other. 1820 muskets are never seen being re-loaded but continue to fire anyway. But technical issues aside, it is still a film with some impact. Jurgens swaggers well as the captain and Dandridge is appealing as Aiche. A pity that the public was not ready for it when it was released and that it is currently not well known. Not to be missed by any Dandridge fan or those wanting to examine the horrors of slavery.

I rate this movie five stars because it dares to tell a story of race,confused love and what could have been an unwitten part of history. The below deck scene were shown to be very close to what the history books tell us of cramp dark and dirty condition as well as the fear the slaves shared among themself. The director makes every part of this movie count with meaning, linking your heart to the true horror of slavery. At the time of making this film, the film maker took many chances exrpessing secret feeling among two races aboard a ship of strife.

I finally tracked this movie down last week after trying to buy it twice on Amazon. For such a rare film, it seemed odd that there were so many copies for sale. It turns out there is a listing error on this site. It seems that whenever a seller tries to list the Ronald Reagan film CAVALRY CHARGE, it comes out listed under TAMANGO. If you order one of these $13 items, you will get CAVALRY CHARGE in the mail. If you are ordering TAMANGO, either look for a more expensively listed item or one where the seller mentions the film itself in the description.