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"Fiction. Comédie dramatique. Mani Kongo, vieux roi d'une province congolaise, interprété par Gérard Essomba, décide de quitter son village, pour retrouver sa fille qu'il a envoyée toute petite étudier en Belgique, et dont il est sans nouvelles. Ce roi va débarquer en Belgique, sans repères, et croiser des personnages, africains plus ou moins paumés... mais aussi des belges, notamment des personnes âgées, qu'il prendra en sympathie et qui le lui rendront bien. Un voyage épique, souvent comique, quelquefois douloureux, dans un nord moins inhospitalier et hostile qu'il n'y peut paraître.--[aconscience.com]. Avec Gérard Essomba Many, Dominique Mesa, Jean-Louis Daulne, Herbert Flack, Cecelia Kankonda, David Steegen."
"The fable of an old African king and his wayward daughter is updated to present day Brussels to make provocative points about racism, tradition, class struggle, cultural identity and corruption. More than a decade ago Mweze Ngangura delighted the cinema world with one of the most accessible and entertaining African films ever made, La vie est belle, the rags to riches story of a Congolese musician played by soukous super star Papa Wemba. Now he returns with a modern fairy tale set in the vibrant African emigré demi-monde of contemporary Europe. It was the winner of the most prestigious award in African cinema the Etalon de Yennenga at FESPACO '99. At first glance Pièces d'Identités is the timeless story of an old king, his beautiful if wayward daughter, a dragon of sorts and the prince charming who rescues them; it even has a happy ending. At the same time, Ngangura's simple fable raises some of the most troubling issues of identity facing people of African descent in the ever-widening Diaspora of the late 20th century. Mani Kongo, the venerable king of the Bakongo, sets out alone on a quest for his long-lost daughter, Mwana, whom he sent to Belgium to study medicine many years before. As soon as he leaves his village and enters the Westernized world he finds his identity challenged. At the travel agency in Kinshasa, young urban trend-setters mistake the king's royal fetishes as the latest fashion statement while customs officials try to confiscate them as imported art objects. Eventually, robbed, homeless and penniless, Mani Kongo is tricked into pawning his royal regalia, literally his "pieces of identity, " to an unscrupulous art dealer. (Ironically the authentic headdress used in the film had to be borrowed from a Belgian antique shop.) The villain of this tale will be Europe itself, an economic and cultural dragon grasping Africa's children, art and spiritual vitality. Europe is represented by a group of recrudescent white mercenaries and freebooters who meet at the Katanga Bar to reminisce about the good old days of colonial exploitation. Their leader Jefke, a former colonial administrator in the Bakongo district, now a police commissioner, continues to harass Africans politically and sexually in Matongue, the Congolese district of Brussels. The film is unflinching in showing the daily indignities Africans face at the hands of racist police and ordinary citizens. But it is also nuanced enough to show some decent white people in the working class boarding house where Mani Kongo finally finds refuge. If Mani Kongo, symbolizing Africa itself, is ever to recover his ID he must first free himself from that uncritical trust of the West which led him to send his daughter there in the first place. The old king continually contrasts his fond recollections of participating in a delegation of Congolese notables to the Belgium king in 1958 with the shabby treatment he receives there now. Ngangura cleverly represents Mani Kongo's memories of Belgium through '50s newsreel footage so that the only non-fiction footage in the film is actually shown to be propaganda or at least as misleading. While Mani Kongo has only temporarily lost his ID, the younger generation in the film finds itself adrift in Europe without ever having had one. Mwana (aka Amanda) has just been released from jail for drug-running and is forced to take a job in a strip club where Africans act out Europeans' lurid fantasies of the other. She was seduced and is still pursued by a small-time, designer-clad hustler or sapeur, Viva wa Viva, whose motto is "the brand makes the man." Mwana's eventual rescuer, Chaka-Jo is a mulatto cabdriver, trapped between white and black, the son of an unknown Belgian father abducted from his Congolese mother and placed in a Belgian orphanage. In his frustration, he holds up white bars like a Robin Hood dressed as a Congolese warrior proclaiming himself the "Savior of Humanity." He is played by Jean-Louis Daulne, composer of the film's infectious soundtrack which includes a cameo by Papa Wemba. All these young African characters share a confusion about identity reflected in the fact that each has invented or been given additional names. This generation is symbolized by a young woman who appears to Mani Kongo in the midst of his despair, not so much a character as an apparition. She tells him her name is Noubia and she was born in Belgium though her heart is in Africa and she represents an African Renaissance. She shows Mani Kongo what Europe really does to Africans by taking him to the forgotten graves of Congolese brought to Belgium a century ago to amuse the King. She raps (an urban idiom with African roots) about her need for the "true African vibration, " and she sees Mani Kongo as a "messenger" calling not just Mwana but all of Africa's prodigal children back to their father's house. Ngangura seems to be suggesting here that an African Renaissance could be catalyzed through the return of educated young Africans, disillusioned with the West yet equipped with modern skills, who would rebuild the continent. Indeed, it is primarily through the know-how and daring of Chaka-Jo that Mani Kongo, representing traditional Africa, survives his stay in Brussels, recovers his regalia and is reunited with his daughter. In return Chaka-Jo avoids becoming the stereotype of the "tragic mulatto" by discovering in Mani Kongo a friend, a father figure, a new identity and a concrete mission for himself in Africa. As the film draws to a close, Ngangura ingeniously ties together his colorful cast or characters through a series of outlandish coincidences. These coincidences do not reflect blind chance or narrative desperation, but, as in any myth, an ineluctable underlying moral force restoring the characters to their proper identities. This gravity is Africa, an invisible actor throughout the film drawing the characters back to itself - and themselves - from the powerful centrifugal forces of the West. As director Ngangura has said: "I am a modern African. But I still believe in my culture and my ancestors. So I am very interested in making popular African films." Africanists might feel compelled to note that the Africa represented in Pièces d'Identités is more an ideal than a reality, a place of purely constructive traditions and supportive, welcoming communities. (The film does genuflect in the direction of feminism by suggesting these traditions might need to be broadened to include women.) The path toward development is presented as clear; the characters unhesitatingly leave a decadent Europe to set up their self-reliant clinic in the village. The disagreeable truth is that in many places like the Congo young Africans are fleeing brutal civil wars and economic collapse not returning to their countries. Although critics might label Pièces d'Identités as "escapist" entertainment, we might ask why Africans should have to see only "militant" political films? More importantly, can't "escapist" films hold open the possibility of escape from seemingly intractable social realities by imagining a more hopeful vision of Africa's future? "A multi-cultural romp which has already proved an audience favorite...Rich in multi-level meaning; flawlessly navigating provocative points about racism, tradition, class struggle, cultural identity and corruption without sacrificing entertainment value." - Variety. "A dash of gentle Congolese / Belgian charisma, part comedy, drama, thriller and romance." - Los Angeles Times."
"A Congolese king searches for his daughter in Brussels where for a time he loses his royal fetishes, his identity, but finds a friend, a local cabdriver with a secret identity. With his help and a chain of coincidence (it must be destined), Mani Kongo is reunited with his daughter and his regalia and returns to Africa with a circle of friends."
"Un vecchio re del Congo parte per il Belgio alla ricerca della figlia di cui non ha più notizie. Il re indossa i suoi simboli reali che in Europa appaiono "folcloristici". Il ritrovamento della figlia, diventata ballerina di night, gli svela improvvisamente i grandi e rivoluzionari mutamenti della società. Fatta lezione di questa esperienza ipotizza una nuova identità per sè e per il suo popolo."
""MANI KONGO, vieux roi congolais, décide de partir à la recherche de sa fille MWANA, quʼil a envoyée étudier en Belgique dès lʼâge de huit ans et dont il est sans nouvelles depuis très longtemps. Lʼaventure européenne de Mani Kongo ne sera pas de tout repos. Il croise des personnages comme CHAKA-JO, jeune métis belgo-congolais et faux taximan ; JEFKE, ancien administrateur colonial au Congo belge et actuel commissaire dans le quartier africain de Bruxelles ; VIVA-WA-VIVA, jeune "sapeur" congolais qui lui extorque son argent, ou encore NOUBIA jeune congolaise, chanteuse illuminée et solitaire qui vénère Mani Kongo comme le "Grand Messager". Mani Kongo retourne chez lui avec Mwana et Chaka-Jo, mais le retour en Afrique permettra-t-il à ces personnages aux identités "en pièces" de se réconcilier avec eux-mêmes ? Quelle place pour la tradition africaine dans le monde dʼaujourdʼhui ? Tant de questions que se pose le Roi Kongo au terme de son voyage initiatique au pays de Tintin. Dignité, identités, désillusions, dialogue interculturel... sont les principaux thèmes quʼégratigne ce drame aux accents de comédie policière qui présente par la même occasion "un regard africain sur lʼEurope". Un film dédié à la diaspora africaine. "--site Web du Ministère des Affaires étrangères, France."
"Mani Kongo, un roi congolais décide de partir à la recherche de sa fille qu'il a envoyée étudier en Belgique à l'âge de 8 ans et dont il n'a plus de nouvelles depuis plusieurs mois. Vêtu de ses attributs royaux, le roi des Bakongo ne passe pas inaperçu au << pays des blancs >> qu'il n'avait pas visité depuis 1958. Il ignore encore que sa fille Mwana est obligée, en échange de son droit de séjour, de faire l'indic en dansant dans un night-club sous le nom d'Amanda pour démasquer un mystérieux braqueur..."
"A Congolese king searches for his daughter Mwana in Brussels, where for a time he loses his royal regalia and his identity but finds a friend, a local cabdriver with a secret identity. With his help and a chain of coincidence (it must be destined), Mani Kongo is reunited with his daughter and his regalia and returns to Africa with a circle of friends."
"A Congolese king searches for his daughter in Brussels where for a time he loses his royal fetishes, his identity, but finds a friend, a local cabdriver with a secret identity. With his help and a chain of odd coincidences, Mani Kongo is reunited with his daughter and his regalia and returns to Africa with a circle of friends."