Original subtitles

[Indistinct chatter]

[Footsteps approach]

[Traffic hums]

[Delicate, instrumental music]

[Indistinct laughter and chatter]

[Boat engine rumbles]

[Waves crash]

[Traffic hums in distance]

[Silence]

[Vehicle engine rumbles in background]

[Low, electric buzzing]

[Buzzing volume increases]

[Deep reverberating voice, in Fon] As far back as I can go

there has never been a night

so deep and opaque.

Here, it is the only possible reality.

[Eerie howling]

[Voice continues] The beginning

and the end.

I journeyed so long in my mind

but it was so dark in this foreign place

that I lost myself in my dreams,

becoming one with these walls.

Cut off from the land of my birth

as if I were dead.

There are thousands of us in this night.

We all bear the same scars.

Uprooted. Ripped out.

The spoils of massive plundering.

Today, it's me they have chosen

like their finest and most legitimate victim!

They have named me 26.

Not 24.

Not 25.

Not 30.

Just 26.

[Eerie atmosphere subsides]

[They talk in French, indistinctly]

[Clattering and clanking]

[Clattering and clanking]

[They continue talking, indistinctly]

[Drilling and clattering]

[Metal clanks]

[Indistinct, muffled voices in background]

[Metal clanks and thuds]

[Indistinct voices in background]

[They continue talking, indistinctly]

[Tools thud]

[They continue talking, indistinctly]

[Wheels roll]

[Chains rattle]

[Object handler talks, indistinctly]

[Indistinct talking continues]

[Camera clicks]

[They talk, indistinctly]

[Indistinct, muffled voices]

[Drilling]

[Drilling]

[Drilling]

[Drilling]

[Indistinct, muffled voices]

[Wheels roll]

[Thud]

[Treasure voice, in Fon] 26.

Why didn't they call me by my real name?

Don't they know it?

"You can leave now!

"26, go back home!"

Return to the surface of time...

leave behind my brothers, prone, ignored deep in the unnamable.

[Ethereal, chiming music and chanting]

[Voice continues] Go back home?

What awaits me elsewhere?

[Music fades; Vehicle beeps]

[Engine hums]

[Freight elevator whirs]

[Door squeaks and shuts]

[Hum]

[Click, silence]

[Wheels whir, jet engine hums]

[Engine hum intensifies]

[Hum decreases]

[Treasure voice] Leave the kingdom of the night

to enter another.

My head is still assailed by the rattle of chains.

I have in my mouth an aftertaste of the ocean.

In several languages, these memories whisper in my ear

the full weight of a past of which I am the trance, the trace.

I'm torn

between the fear of not being recognized by anyone

and not recognizing anything.

[Hum]

[Rhythmic puffing, clanking]

[Printer whirs]

[Whirring intensifies]

[Indistinct voices in background]

[He talks, indistinctly]

HISTORIC!

[Ethereal chanting and chiming music]

[Engine rumbles]

[Siren beeps]

[Thud]

[Clicking]

RESTITUTION OF ROYAL TREASURES OF BENIN

[Siren blares]

[Bells and percussion play]

[Traffic rumbles]

[Chiming music and chanting fade]

[Car horn honks]

[People cheer]

[They sing]

[Car horn honks]

[They cheer]

[Percussion and singing]

PALAIS DE LA MARINA PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BENIN

[Percussion and singing continue, in distance]

[Crickets chirp]

[Engine rumbles, slowly]

[Loud bang]

[They talk, indistinctly]

[Loud bang]

[Loud bang]

[Loud bang]

[Loud bang]

[Vehicle whirs]

[Vehicle beeps]

[Man, in French] Ladies and gentlemen...

Mr. President of the Republic of Benin...

[Camera clicks]

Your highnesses...

[Camera clicks]

Dear guests...

[Low hum]

[Crickets chirp]

[Metal clanks]

[Atmospheric, synth music]

[Treasure voice, in Fon] Is this the end of the journey?

[Music continues; Crickets chirp]

[Voice continues] Everything is so strange.

Far removed from the country I saw in my dreams.

My head is spinning.

I give myself up to this tropical caress

to the smell of childhood, a road to myself.

[Music transitions to a calm, orchestral symphony]

[Leaves rustle]

[Music and rustling intensify]

[Voice continues] I did not expect to see daylight again.

[Music fades]

[Muffled, indistinct chatter]

[Drilling]

[Drilling]

[Drilling]

[Drilling]

[Drilling]

[Curator, in French] Statue of King Ghezo.

Designation:

anthropo-zoomorphic royal statue.

Medium:

painted wood,

metal,

fibers.

Weight:

220 kilos.

Condition:

average condition overall.

The pictorial layer presents gaps.

The sculpture is stable despite cracks.

The metal is stable, although oxidized and deformed.

[They talk, indistinctly]

[Curator, continues] Description:

this statue is a representation of a Bo ,

a power-figure of King Ghezo.

The iron blades covering the body of the statue

allude to metals, the symbol of the Vodun Gû ,

the Vodun of iron and, by extension, of war.

[Indistinct chatter]

[They talk, indistinctly]

[Drilling in distance]

[Tractor roars]

[Indistinct chatter]

[Men talk, indistinctly]

[Thud]

[Chiming]

[Curator] Condition:

good structural condition despite cracks and missing parts.

[Man talks, indistinctly]

[Curator continues] Description:

this throne was taken from Cana, less than 20 kilometers from Abomey.

The arrangement of the sculpted characters shows

that this work has Yoruba origins,

and was made for the king.

The upper part of the throne depicts the king under his sunshade,

surrounded by his maidservants.

[Men talk, indistinctly]

[Curator continues] On the level below,

a line of shackled slaves

alludes to two major characteristics of the kingdom.

Its expansionist policies

and the enslavement of the population in conquered regions.

[Muffled chatter and clattering]

[Whirring and clattering in background]

[They talk, indistinctly]

[Curator] Statue of King Glele.

Condition:

average condition overall.

Peeling and defects in certain areas,

particularly on the head.

Keep under observation.

An asen , or sinuka, its real name in Fongbe,

was intended to perpetuate the memory of the dead.

Every deceased person is entitled to a sinuka .

It symbolizes an accomplished life on earth

and integration into the world of the ancestors.

[Curator] Not by the fin.

Not the head.

Don't let go. Hold it.

Paul, hold it.

Stay on this side to hold it.

[Curator continues] Statue of King Béhanzin.

Description:

this statue depicts Béhanzin,

King of Dahomey from 1890 to 1894.

Béhanzin's coat of arms featured a shark

in memory of the words he uttered,

announcing to his people his intention to wage war on the French...

[Curator talks in Fon]

[He continues, in French] "The shark has been angered

and the ocean has been clouded."

[He murmurs a song, indistinctly]

[Muffled laughter]

[Distant chiming]

[Glass chimes]

[Inaudible]

[Upbeat electronic music and percussion]

[Indistinct chatter]

[Speaker talks in background]

[Inaudible]

[Inaudible]

[Music fades]

[Speaker] We have centuries ahead of us.

If our conservation efforts so far

failed to reassure you in the long term,

we will do what it takes.

What you have seen demonstrates our commitment and determination

to do things properly, abiding by all standards.

We shall work

for the best conservation of what stayed here,

what has returned and what will return.

[Museum guide] There's an asen here that is intriguing.

For researchers and traditionalists alike,

it continues to be a subject of debate.

How was it possible for Dodds to carry off the asen of King Béhanzin?

King Béhanzin was still alive

when Dodds entered the royal palaces.

A King must not see his asen .

A living being may not see their asen .

Our researchers may be on the right track

when they say that the court soothsayer,

the soothsayer Guédégué,

had questioned the oracles

and informed the King that he would lose the war.

The response was always the same.

"Your Majesty, fight like a worthy son of Dahomey,

but you will lose this war."

[Muffled chatter]

Did you know thousands of Beninese artifacts

were held overseas?

If so, at what point in your life, did you find out?

To answer your question, I'd say,

during my childhood, I grew up with Disney,

I grew up watching Avatar ,

I grew up watching Tom & Jerry ,

but I didn't grow up watching an animated movie

that focused on Béhanzin,

that focused on our cultural heritage.

During my childhood therefore, I was never made aware

that artifacts belonging to us

had been deported and...

would return who knows when.

So I grew up completely ignorant that my heritage,

my culture, my education,

my life and soul had been kept overseas for centuries.

You understand?

I'd been told in high school but partially,

because our teachers used to say in social science classes,

"A lot of things were stolen from us."

By "a lot of things", I got it into my head these were "things."

[She laughs] I didn't know they were treasures,

only that they were things.

[Man 2] To answer the first question, I didn't know.

In primary school, it was the history of victors and vanquished.

That's what we got.

But when I heard about the return of this stuff...

I call them "stuff" because so far it...

I feel nothing with regard to...

these statuettes.

I call them that since I feel nothing.

[Man 1] 90% of Beninese heritage...

[Man 3] Hmm...

Careful with your statistics.

[Man 1] I reiterate, 90%!

I weigh my words. 90%.

- [Man 3] All our heritage, meaning? - Our heritage.

- [Man 3] Only 10% is here? - Exactly.

[Man 4] When you say that 90% of our cultural heritage...

[Inaudible]

[Man 4 continues] ...is overseas, I don't think you're right.

Cultural heritage is composed of material

and immaterial heritage.

Now, part of our material heritage

is in other countries.

But our immaterial heritage,

our dances, traditions and know-how are still in our country!

[People applaud and cheer]

[Inaudible]

To go see these 26 works

is a patriotic act. Why?

For me, it's about more than pride.

I remember last Sunday,

when I went to the Palais to see the 26 works,

I cried for fifteen minutes.

I was like, wow!

[Man] Wow...

I...

[People murmur]

[Woman, raising voice] I cried so much that...

I was taught...

In school, the king's throne...

[Man] We all have our own sensibility.

[Woman continues] I cried because I said to myself,

Wow, look how our ancestors...

The ingenuity of our ancestors,

especially for the throne of King Ghezo.

If you go see the paintings and sculptures of Benin,

it's not for amusement.

But I also agree with the fellow who said it's an insult.

Out of 7,000 works, they bring back 26.

And what hurts me the most

is the god Gû , god of iron, whom we asked for

but we were told to wait.

[Curator] A historic day.

Experiencing this moment is very moving.

Special and...

It's a moment of great emotion

and joy.

And it's a response...

sent out to those who were skeptical

when the issue of restitution

was first raised.

Some people, including some Beninese,

claimed that

Benin did not possess the means, either financially,

materially or in human resources, to look after these works.

[Interviewer] The works are here now,

so what role can you still play

in the whole process?

Well, the role I have to play

is to pass the torch

because I am already advanced in age

and there has to be a younger generation

in whom we place our trust.

That generation is already there to take up the torch.

That would be my ultimate satisfaction.

[Woman 3] I don't think it's in any way historic.

It's a purely political event.

We all know that an ancestor of our president, Patrice Talon,

was one of the interpreters who facilitated the plunder.

And now he's back to bring them home to us

but just a tiny fraction.

That shows the complexity of things

and that they just want to increase their popularity

with us, the general population.

- [Woman 4 talks, indistinctly] - Because if we need to...

[People applaud]

If we need to act more

in terms of teaching our culture, meaning our history,

I don't think this is where we should begin.

The aim is not to make people in Benin happy.

The aim is, in fact, to gratify France

by showing a positive image of France,

which is losing ground.

France is losing its power in Africa.

Macron didn't do this because we asked.

He did it to boost his brand.

[Man 5] Political or not, it's a historic event that will allow...

historians and artists to reappropriate the history,

to be able to work on it

and to be able to produce works

and produce documentation

based on restituted works.

[Man 6] I agree with the idea that it's a historic act.

Posters everywhere, all about this,

like there are no more empty bellies in this country,

It's all about this, and that's fine. It's fine.

But don't...

Let's be aware that this is a savage insult.

[People murmur]

[Man 6 continues] Restituting 26 works

out of 7,000 is an insult.

- [Inaudible] - [Scattered applause]

[Man 7] Go ahead.

[Woman 5] Hello, everybody.

My name's Diane. I'm a filmmaker.

I listened with great interest to what everybody had to say,

and this talk of insults disgusts me, in fact.

Because you're denigrating the work of President Talon.

First you say that he's courageous, and he's done a lot of hard work.

Then you talk about insults.

You have artifacts coming back home after so many years.

I'll say this in Fon...

[She speaks in Fon]

[She continues in French] In fact...

it's because these 26 works are back here already

that you can run your mouths off...

- [People cheer and applaud] - ...saying it's an insult.

If they hadn't given anything...

[She speaks in Fon]

[She continues in French] Start by accepting the little you have,

then develop a technique to get the others back!

[People applaud]

Look at how we think...

They take from us more than 7,000 pieces

and they restitute 26.

- We consider it's a start. - [Man 8] And we're happy.

So in 100 years, I guess...

It's been over 100 years, right?

- In 100 years, they'll restitute two... - [Man 8] Another two.

We won't be here then!

Right?

In 200 years, maybe four more.

We won't be here. Where's this going?

[He continues, over speaker] The simple fact of having to ask is the problem.

They came and tore that from us!

And they conditioned us never to think we can tear it back

by any means but diplomacy,

behind-the-scenes deals.

And you have no idea what's been signed away.

So to me...

we are still stuck in the pattern mapped out by the colonizers,

claiming that things have evolved...

No! We need a revolution!

We need mobilization in Africa,

widespread mobilization so everything is given back to us.

And for us to be able to protect it,

so we can tell our history to our children!

Thank you.

[Inaudible]

The return of these works,

of these treasures, is not perceptibly

the doing of Patrice Talon.

Be aware, it's the...

potentially silent wish...

It's the materialization...

of bygone revolts.

It's the accomplishment of Bio Guéra,

Béhanzin and the Amazons.

It's all of those energies

coming together today in the accomplishment

of a step in the march

of our people toward its own identity.

If I have to state

the intention around all that,

I'd say, at first sight,

it's the intention for self-determination.

The intention for self-determination of a whole people.

I'd rather not heap that on Patrice Talon. It's too much to ask of him...

[Treasure voice, in Fon] Where I am is where I must be?

I wonder...

in the conviction that it will change nothing

in the present-under-construction that is history.

[Inaudible]

I feel attracted by something from ancient times,

[Birds chirp; People talk in distance]

[Treasure voice continues] ...a sort of invitation.

Perhaps a new beginning.

[Indistinct muffled chatter]

[Museum visitor, in English] I happen to be Haitian.

My great-grandmother spoke to me of some of the kings here.

Specifically of Ghezo and Béhanzin.

She spoke to me of these men, of these kings when I was 3 years old.

I held on to these names so that I wouldn't forget.

And to be here today

witnessing this presence of these works of art...

There are some interesting metaphysical experience that

it's actually taking places

parallel between the restitution of these works of art

and our needs, our demands for reparations

and our movement.

This movement of African descendants

who are coming back to the African continent.

So the objects are coming home little by little,

and so are the people.

None of us will be free

spiritually, politically, emotionally,

until these works have been liberated themselves,

until they are returned to their proper place of origin.

That's what so important about these works.

They give us strength, they give us power.

And they provide us with absolute clarity about who we are

and what our...

our contribution to world patrimony is about.

So...

Come out! Enjoy!

Go to your local museums!

And learn about yourself.

Learn about ourselves, learn about history.

Strengthen yourself.

Love yourself in that way.

[Woman 5, in French] Hello, everybody.

I'm Ouemeho, Rose.

I've listened carefully to all that's been said from the start.

First of all, I'd like to emphasize the fact that

all you Beninese...

[Man from crowd] All of us, Beninese?

- Okay, all of us... - [People murmur]

...Beninese, who are here today,

we don't realize that...

the colonizers made us slaves of ourselves.

To begin with...

Even our languages. We can't...

I can't talk in my own language, for example,

and say all I can say.

All I want to say. I can't say it.

Because they made us slaves of our own language,

to begin with. The colonizers!

Normally, Fon, Nago and the other languages

should be part of our education system.

Even our own culture is not learned in our own language.

We learned it in French.

I'm speaking French but I'm not French. I'm from Abomey.

[Man 9] The education system did not fail to mention

the treasures but it did not mention them by name.

We were told our parents were stolen from us,

our able-bodied men went away...

And they sidetracked us

by putting in the system of education

facts that don't engage us in any way!

And curiously, that sucked out our capacity for excellence.

In other words...

[People applaud]

In other words...

when you are able to quote Aristotle,

to quote Plato, to quote whatever...

you're a genius.

I always had issues with my teachers,

for whom an inability to quote those people

invalidated my essays' arguments,

and that's unacceptable!

[Man 10 talks indistinctly]

[Man 11] It's totally biased!

Nelson Mandela said education

is the most powerful weapon to save the world. Taking it from there...

We have these 26 artifacts now.

The Palais de la Marina is open for people to view them.

But for children in schools and high schools today,

what funding has been put in place to allow them to visit?

- [People applaud] - Children who happen to be...

in a remote village, for example,

how will they come visit?

What system is there for them to come and visit?

So that they're given the facts,

and by themselves, with their imagination,

they can create their history, reconnect with their culture.

For so long, we were told we descended from slaves.

But I descend from Amazons and I'm proud!

[Man 12] Do policies with regard to education,

with regard to promoting the development

of a culture of visiting "museums"...

Do we have that in Benin? No.

[He continues, over speaker] We must not dissociate the social aspect

from the economic aspect.

How many people in Benin

are assured of three meals a day?

If we want people in Benin, from now on,

to develop the habit of visiting museums,

it's good for the economy, sure, but we have to boost

workers' purchasing power,

so that the working and middle classes can afford it,

so that the lady selling talé-talé outside

can educate herself first

to pass it on to the little boy she's raising at home,

so he gets into the habit of visiting museums.

The fact that you focus the issue on the word "museum"

is a mistake.

Museums, Museums...

Museums are a Western institution.

I'm Beninese.

These works were initially intended for rituals of worship.

We had our way of keeping things

and conceiving things that we have forgotten.

[Woman 6] Mr. Gael, please,

President Talon was right to exhibit them here.

If we took them back to Abomey,

the sacred aspect would automatically be highlighted.

Drastically!

- [Men talk, indistinctly] - Drastically...

Personally, I wouldn't go near them. automatically I'd be scared!

It's to desacralize them. They're works of art!

[People talk, indistinctly]

It's art. Nothing but art!

[Gael] We live in a country where we're all 100% hypocrites.

Here's why.

The young lady says that if she sees the sacred aspect,

it will scare her.

But we all know that after church, 95% of people practice Vodun.

Let's stop deluding ourselves.

[People talk, indistinctly]

Let's not delude ourselves.

Why are we so scared of Vodun now?

Where's this fear from?

[Man 9] What was looted more than a century ago

is our soul.

The people's soul.

It's our ability to be proud,

to identify with our own essence that was looted.

The life was taken out of these works.

Let's give back the life that was taken.

[Harmonious, instrumental music]

[Guide talks, indistinctly]

[Chanting joins]

[Music and chanting fade]

[Music and chanting resume]

[Music and chanting conclude]

[Light switch click echoes]

[Light switch click echoes]

[Light switch click echoes]

[Treasure voice, in Fon] Night again.

[Ocean murmurs; Crickets chirp]

[Voice continues] Atlantic,

shores of the wound.

May the light engulf you.

I walk.

[Atmospheric chanting]

[Calm, instrumental music joins]

[Voice continues] I will no longer stop at each junction,

where my humanity will be challenged.

I'll no longer mull over my incarceration

in the caverns of the civilized world.

I won't ever stop.

I never left.

I am here.

[Music continues; Cricket chirp]

[Voice continues] I don't forget.

[Indistinct chatter]

[Voice continues] There is nothing to repair.

There are the dreams of the continent,

the path calling us to the very end.

[Club music plays over bar speakers]

[Calm, instrumental music continues]

[Voice continues] I am the face of the metamorphosis.

[Inaudible]

[Voice continue] I see myself so clearly through you.

26 does not exist.

Within me resonates infinity.

I walk.

I won't ever stop.

[Indistinct chatter in distance]

[Music fades]

[Crickets chirp]

[Leaves rustle under footsteps]

[Birds sing]

[Rooster crows]

[Music plays in distance]

[All sounds fade]