Sankofa Film Analysis

Sankofa was a magnificent film that showed the horrible past that African Americans had to go through. This film takes place in both present day and the past. In the beginning of the film there are drums and chants coming from spirits of a young African American woman named Mona, ancestors, Mona is on her ancestors sacred holy grounds in Africa, where blood was spilled from her ancestors who suffered and were being taken by the white man and taken to America, Trinidad and Jamaica.

Mona is in a photoshoot wearing high end clothing, it shows that she is disconnected with her past and unaware of the sacrifices here ancestors have made. A older native man by the name of Sankofa appears and begins to shout at the tourist for being on the sacred land of his people and then he brings his attention to Mona shouting, “Get back to your past!”

Mona being distraught they end her photoshoot and she begins to look around the grounds and finds herself following a tourist group into one of the dungeons where the slaves were kept. Suddenly the tourist are gone and the door slams shut behind her, she turns the corner to see a group of slaves gathered …show more content…
The bird once belonged to Shango’s father and was handed down to Shango. Shango thought it would benefit Shola if he passed it down to her after she was caught trying to escape from the plantation. The bird represents the many generations of slaves and at the end of the movie the bird is flying in the sky and it signifies that they are free and that they have found the true meaning of the Sankofa and are aware of their African American roots. I believe Sankofa is a part of Mona’s family and is guiding her to relive the past just like her ancestors, that is why he kept appearing before her trying to get her to understand she is caught up in