6 The anthropological cinema of Jean Rouch ‘The poss makes himself «seer by Jong, prodigious and reasone. disordering of all the senses. aah “ Rimbaud! 1955, The mal audience cul ned to the fs Prete atthe Musée de Pome was agely hore nis expose Jean Rouch’s wosk: Mares! Grinue alle Orth fm tobe oes Arcane present atthe screening denounced ia offensive and Shorty atervards the Britih goverment moved te povent ftom Being shown inthe colonial entre of Went Alien, Now fet soe ines Ls iv acknowledged ssa lsc of moder cinemas ewer 19 move and unsete audience at ‘not been diminished by the passage of time. * Jn this chapter, T wil xamine the dtieive character of Jan out’ anhropolgcl icn. The gusto of vs meted snd metaphor is central to this tak. For Rouehy Ike Devil and yuh MacDoogall (he fous ofthe next case stud), deeply comrade annular’ roc. Von cated a he aod ft ee, tnditisprivlged aa source of knowledge abou the world But tee wil discover, Rouch’s conception of antropeogicl eines mevtedy siferent fom that developed by the MacDougal Thus ie thay contrat tothe later exp, cael convoleds wellarged aca Tigrous agenda, Rouct’s projet appear tbe high and founded on intuition.* ad ‘The conan between thse two examples of endo say be trced to a number of sources ~ individual person Iethod, schol of anthropology th scivies and fering historical momens in which projects were dence, oped, Cetily such factors ae important and wert of secon steno, a ny nacaie wl ee character stems fm fad 90 “The anthropological cinems of Jean Rouch a MacDougal enlightenment project aversion pehsps of what Martin fay doscbes a “Cartesin perpecivlsm’ were knowledge co fom intense observation of a world sued outide the pracce unset the very dvslons upon which chan Qjunded. He dlorapt te boondares between the el abd the world, rind and body, the thahin anthropologial cinema maybe consiefed to be the eruption ofthe nigh ight of Romantiom a he ibertaran Otero site des Tumis the Century of Lights, te Enlightenment Tees once prt of the enlightenment and yet its anthes the shadow around the i ouch once commented: do’ krow that there ate few rare moments when the Aimgoer suddenly understands an unknown l= googe wou the help of any subies, when he partes in sange Sremonica when be finds hinsalf walking in towns or Aros teen hae he hay never seen before but that he recognizes perfect T Seserand Rourke «Nope dona sae i pl fea cinema involves moment ofevelation The vitonary quali of his tach wid ion ah soucy oncom, Soe session, ate famed to at Ranch te suprisingly, for younger anthropologists seeking to rediscover human connectedness in a world confined by old forms and ideas, Rouch is @ fascinating figure.* It is imporcant to acknowledge that the unique quality of Rouch’s work stems from his unusual personality. Indeed, itis virtually impos- sible to remain indifferent to the audacity and fiercely individualistic spirit which characterises his anthropological cinema. But any assess- ‘ment of ite distinctiveness must also take into account other factors shaping Rouch’s ethnographic . These include his own back- ‘round, the intellectual and arristic climate of interwar Paris, and the specific concerns of French anthropology. Centr and politcal circumstances in which Rouch f yay and cinema, my own interpretation of the Within the moment of West African independence. 1 Rouch’s ereativity was intimately linked to a revolu modern society.? ‘The final break-up of European hegemony after two world wars and the emergence of colonial peoples as an important force in world92 Amhropotogicl visions history, shattered forever the conventional metaphysics behind notions of humanity, civilization and subjectivity. Alchough the political opti. sunded the emancipation of colonial peoples during the 1950s and early 1960s quickly gave way to cynicism and despair as the old divisions of race and power reasserted themselves, the indepen dence movements across Asia, Afri theless be acknowledged as a wate was part of that moment of transitio ‘Moreover, I believe that he was day more than forty years ago, 8 @ powerful expression of a new and expanded vision of universal humanity which was embodied in the revolution of colonial peop! T take Les Maitre Fous as the starting point for my enquiry into the distinctive nature of Rouch’s visual anthropology. It establishes a ‘number of themes which recur in his work (for example, the notion of a journey, an interes fe, the phenomenon of imanistic vision. More- the historical moment of colonial ~ Un Noir, La Pyramide Humaine, La Chasse au Chronique d’um Eid) which Rouch made between Although a number were not completed until a decad: ursued, within the space of just ly experimental ‘0 cinematic form as he pushed into new areas of anthropolo- ice and knowledge. A number of these 1950s films form the focus for my visionary project. I that the relationships innovative qualities of each pa Maiires Fous, Moi-Un Noir, and Chronique d’ ‘wish to suggest that these Ims represent @ Progressive sequence, a linear development; rather, T conceive of them Les Maitres Fous Les Maitres Fous (The Mad Masters) documents the course of a posses- sion ceremony held during one Sunday by members of the Hauka sect ‘working as migrant labourers in Accra, Emerging in the colony of Niger luring the 1920s as a form of resistance to French colonial rule, the cult ‘ook hold among people who had moved from their rural villages to find r “The anthropological cinema of Jean Rouch work in Kumasi and Accra, the comme controlled Gold Coast. During the ceremony its peat}, de cult of the Haka quesiont contention o ‘The film opens in the heart of Accra. We are plunged sing ety what Rouch in hi commentary nother, sharing in ‘the great adventure of African cities’. From the beginning the film conveys a f complexity, of the simultaneity of events. Above all, we see people doing things ~ a rapid ts of migrants working, dancing, celebrating Jesus, al slogans.'® Interestingly, Rouch descr 8 our sense of encountering a vib ent element Which makeup this modern urban Hs Roch * poseoron sequence em a Hauka ceremony, Da Ages, weed aed othing fm the mou appen ape» dak hy Ney deemed by tbe exbrace of he gy we ae aso ewes of inst fam dy toni fom the oy oan unknown othe routine of migrant work oa moment flat poss But euring o Acero mete indus whose members orth Hovis econ Poth he radical junction and fundamental say of iferest pec et camempoey second pr of Let Mains F. ‘memes rom Acts tothe fred ruc and buses deo Conquers Difele, the monk rn, sow ono deep fn the fret, Here * ountbye, the Piet ofthe Halo, whose compound with ite Union Jaca, alar and snus of the governor hat been carefull ia craton, The document the pinay on of anew member, the eonfeson of rong, efor tiding promesiey a dramave caf signalled by the journey of the ceremony. Leaving aboard 1 along West Aftica’s first customary behaviour of the Bi imitation and subversion of offi underlined by Rouch’s juxtap fon of a sequence from the ‘real” ee94 Anthropological visions fovemor’s presence atthe opening ofthe assembly in Acta, or in sharp contrat othe et ofthe fin this sequence sot ots scacen situated high above the ofl entering: we lok down onthe woe tod bis wie, an actin expressing both he conventional Meche of ower and is subversion during the course of te Houta roses, Wieh ‘he hing and eating of do, the ceremony reaches ts ro Dusk approaches, Sowy the Haka members emerge any hes Cane torent cra im concludes witha tere of fshbacks. Rowch reins flowing day vo vist ier etch ‘hem working calmly and ef yet we ate reminded by the incr Previous day Hauka Co ther dimensions of experience and personality co-exist withi ed reality. = “Le Mate Fos reas oy a power and nseig fl, Within tothropology ise tere exe + cerain mythology surundiag ee sons ofthe fm’ showing Undoubtedly images ofthe Hauke ae sf thessremony posses nd fotingat he moss deuing flecked withthe blood ofa uaughtered dog the lew ead ‘controled body movements the pees of doy mast bubbling seats 4 cauldron ~ are among the mont during which tenses tke memory of fm audience. Shocking ss these scenes may be howeven hie impact mst be considered as inepurae fom the faadoneeed inversion of conventional eategrce of ederldsander whi it ney ence confons though i inmeon nthe im, Whar I tinh s ind hots of the ys, the spe that undergone by the Hauka disturbs the body as much as the mind. Indeed, the extreme physical responses provoked in an audience seem to mirror those manifested by possessed cult members, prompt Les Maitres Fous is not just about possession possession, This particular work expresses concretely what is distinctive about Rouch’s project of anthropological cinema as « whole. He takes the participatory ethos of modern anthropology and synthesise it with the unique characteristics of its twentieth-century counterpart, cinema. Jn so doing he creates a new site for possession and transformation." ‘The transformative power of Rouch’s anthropological cinema is not & matter of chance. Itis, I believe, carefully orchestrated. Like the Hauke Possession ceremony itself, Rouch creates effects in his audience through the combination of different ritual elements; but in his case, it involves the use of images, sound, titles and commentary. Thus once we “The anthropological cinema of Jean Rouch 95 are able to put to one side the powerful, affective qualities of Les Maitres Fous, we may appreciate the film’s formal precision. Although Rouch prefers t0 leave the creative process deliberately unexamined, rather ‘han self-consciously exposed through critical reflection asin the case of the MacDougalls, it is difficult to accept that there is anything random ‘or haphazard about the way in which the film’s different components are interwoven, A closer examination suggests that each cinematic element has been carefilly positioned in relationship to the others and to the whole; but itis through these contrived juxtapositions that Rouch opens up areas of interpretative freedom. re rece pace a eect cage cae Bee eas Re ca a popes Scene ee abe ¢ technique of