Redemption song A film byCristina Mantis

The documentary film "Redemption Song" intones the chant of redemption that a West African war-refugee, Cissoko, dreams for his people and his land in the hardest times of the migration to Europe crisis.

Aware of the appalling number of deaths caught at sea in the Mediterranean crossing, Aboubacar Cissoko feels strongly that he must make a contribution to stem Africa’s human lost and decides to return to his homeland to put on alert about the many risks encountered on the journey.

Upon arriving in Guinea, he will project in schools and villages what his eyes have seen and filmed with a small camera, in the hope for an awakening of his people, informing on the precarious and painful conditions in which many immigrants find themselves living in Europe, victims of an inappropriate and discriminatory legislative system, that continues to deny them freedom of movement and effectively consign them to new forms of modern slavery.

He thus moves to Senegal, to Ile de Gorée, the island of slaves, for a stronger reflection, contemplating new and courageous thoughts, such as decolonizing the gaze at the myth of the Western world.

“Virtually” accompanied on his journey by some artists who reinforce his emotional soul and by the memory of Thomas Sankara, Cissoko relentlessly urges his people toward the emancipation of themselves and their land, reflecting on the extreme necessity of the cessation of conflicts that result in traumatic escapes and endless ordeals at best.

The main character feels he must convince his brothers of the importance of a true union that will avoid the impoverishment of their land and will give new prospects for their future, taking as an example the descendants of the enslaved people living in the Brazilian quilombi, whom he goes to pay homage to, and whom he finds surprisingly united and proud of their African origins. In the unadorned simplicity of the Quilombos, the echo of the ancestors’fight for their freedom is undoubtedly heard. And this is the echo that Cissoko listens to like a melody. A song that he wants Africa to hear.

The core of the documentary lies the awareness that what is first and foremost necessary is an internal emancipation capable of inciting each individual to fight for their own true essence.