Cast: Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow, Traore, Nicole Sougou, Aminata Kane, Coumba Dieng, Ibrahim Mbaye, Diankou Sembene, Abdou Balde, Babacar Sylla. Screenplay: Mati Diop, Olivier Demangel. Cinematography: Claire Mathon. Art direction: Yves Capell (concept artist), Laura Bücher (assistant art director). Film editing: Aël Dallier Vega. Music: Fatima Al Qadiri.
Atlantics is a fascinating mixture of social commentary about contemporary Senegal and a ghost story with touches of vampire lore. It centers on a love story: Ada (Mame Bineta Sane) loves Souleiman (Traore) but is being forced to marry the wealthy Omar (Babacar Sylla). Souleiman is a construction worker on a huge project: a towering building that looms improbably (and in fact digitally) over the low-rising city of Dakar. He and his co-workers are fighting for the back pay that is owed them, and when that is once again denied, they decide to set sail for Spain in search of better work. When they have been gone for a while, Ada reluctantly gives in to the pressure to marry Omar, and after the wedding shows her friends through her new home. The young women particularly admire the fancy white marriage bed, but while they're out of the room the bed catches fire. A young detective named Issa (Amadou Mbow) is called in to investigate the suspected case of arson, and because there have been rumors that Souleiman has returned to Dakar, he becomes the chief suspect and Ada is grilled by Issa on whether she has seen him. Meanwhile, several of Ada's friends come down with a mysterious illness -- as does Issa, who begins feeling its symptoms at sunset. When Western medicine fails, shamans and imams are called in to try to cure the young women, but the illness persists. This is the start of the film's striking shift into fantasy, with a romantic resolution that doesn't vitiate but rather reinforces writer-director Mati Diop's view of the post-colonial world.
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