Soleil O (1970)

I don’t even know if I could do Soleil O justice in my analysis. Soleil O is an explosive deconstruction of the colonial veil of politeness. Hondo not only dissects the institutional rigor of continued political and economic oppression, but also questions the sincerity of white revolutionary ideals. The film begins with a clean slate from the visitor, who like others moving to France, believe that they can fulfill the myth of the “model immigrant” in this land of freedom. However, over time, he peels back this idealistic veneer of superior politeness; Hondo’s portraiture of both angry and calm racism converge into a spectral shattering of this idealism. Anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism intersect with racial identity in order to provide a full-throated resistance against the broad imposition of a white “order”. The understanding that the visitor takes on related to the white need for full conformity finally breaks him, as he is no longer deluded about their occupation of social purgatory. In this regard, he shoulders the anti-colonial political and social burdens which result in such a fiery ending. Soleil O is an apropos thesis on the impossible expectations of the white world against other racial identities, in which they expect both assimilation and desire for segregation.