In one of the early scenes of Money, Freedom, a Story of CFA Franc, a speaker says that the financial system has been made difficult to understand but yet has a power so extensive it is kind of supernatural. It’s hard if not impossible to disagree with that assertion. And yet, from time to time, something happens to give non-initiates a peek behind the curtain.
For anyone interested in the relationship between France and some of its former colonies, Lena Ndiaye’s documentary is a must-screen. After its bow at IDFA, it should have no problems finding other festivals across Europe. TV networks might also want to look into acquiring a documentary that rewards multiple viewings, packed as it is with in-depth research into that most important entity, money.
It should probably come as no surprise that money in countries formerly under the control of colonial powers is linked to those old empires. But whereas some have broken those chains, others, for some reason, have not. To get us through why this has been harmful for those countries yet to be weaned, Ndiaye assembles several experts in economic matters. Their eloquence and insights into the issue is enough to get A Story of CFA into classrooms. What makes it earn a place outside of classrooms is its layered storytelling. And there is footage—of the Indochina War, of French leaders wheedling, of now-old or deceased African leaders glossy in their youth. Ndiaye also infuses the film with some biography, thereby connecting the larger world to the intimacy of family.
As the story gives an account of what we may call the many lives of the CFA, it becomes clear that one of the reasons behind the perceived benign nature of retaining a currency like the CFA franc is linked to the framing of colonialism as political subjugation. It is exactly that—but it was also a business. As a narrator tells us, the CFA is connected to slaveowners needing financial compensation for loss of labour after slavery was abolished in 1848. There is, of course, an American version of what transpired in the decades after Abolition, but the focus here is on France.
In any case, when one considers the centrality of legal tender to modern business, one begins to understand just how ludicrous it was for Africa’s new leaders to accept their former master’s coin and treasury as gatekeepers for these so-called independent countries.
A question then arises: was any of this done because African leaders of the time were ignorant of the implications? The Story of CFA Franc doesn’t answer that question with any authority, but one of its interviewees does refer to those leaders as “political entrepreneurs” and there is an explanation of how the élite of former colonies were taught by the old empire to act like they did. The upshot is an élite that may never really have understood some of the more harmful outcomes they perpetuated, because what else did they know but what they were taught?
Unfortunately, that bit is not only historical. It remains a problem. Today, Africa’s élite are still getting trained offshore and still listening to such bodies as the IMF, which, in one of the few moments where someone laughs, is described as the Instant Misery Fund. Those familiar with Africa’s economic history of the 1990s would recall the Structural Adjustment Programmes that devastated several economies, and it is to this documentary’s credit that it addresses that devastation.
There may be no answers to Africa’s continued misery, which is also caused by African leadership many years after independence, but A Story of CFA Franc makes a case for one line of action that is yet to receive the number of headlines it deserves: follow the money.
Director: Lena Ndiaye
Narrator: Carole Karemera
Producers: Oualid Baha for Tact Production, Lena Ndiaye for Indigo Mood Films, Aurélien Bodinaux for Neon Rouge Productions
Co-producers: Florian Schewe for Film Five GmbH
Cinematography: Vincent Pinckaers
Editing: Simon Arazi
Music: Irina Prieto
World Sales: Tact Production
In French
102 minutes
