Vénus noire

A frustration of a film that is all basically just variations on a single dismal performance the entire time, which plays out across countries, social classes, and intellectual assumptions, proving how low a person can slip just because of their desire and fascination for otherness. May his intentions be more noble. (07/11/2022)

Right at the beginning of the film, you will clearly know whether it is a film for you or not. Along with the French scientific society, you are watching a plaster cast of a black woman who had a very specific body structure. The society comments on her skull, as incredibly similar to that of an ape. Her body could be compared to the Venus of Willendorf. However, Sarah Baartman did not live in prehistoric times, but at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. She also stood out with the shape of her small labia, which were incredibly elongated, as the film also shows us. The creators did not shy away from it, so we can watch the fully preserved external genitalia that scientists examine. Thanks to Sarah - or Saartjie if you prefer - being different from others in her build, she was a popular attraction, presented as a savage. However, she was not wild at all, on the contrary, she was a very civilized woman who could easily communicate in England (where we mostly follow her life, when she was essentially a circus animal) and she could also defend herself in court, where she was present to testify that her employer actually exploited her and treated her inhumanely like a slave. "Black Venus" is not a very pleasant film. You will not leave it with good feelings. What the actress endured is incredibly humiliating, but on the other hand, it shows the strength she had and the determination she projected into a credible portrayal of the character. I have to give her credit for that, as well as the director for a very daring story based on a true story. There will be people who will label the film as poor, but I, on the contrary, think that it is very well done, although it certainly is not easily digestible for everyone. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/09/expendables-2-cerna-venuse-mame-papeze.html (28/02/2013)