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Chocolat is a French biopic about a black clown who became famous in France near the end of the 19th century. While this film is beautiful and well-executed, it takes too many liberties with history, and in fact reveals a condescending racism when the plot is contrasted with the historical truth. In the film, Rafael is working as a chimpanzee tamer in a dingy travelling circus. He encounters there Foottit, a travelling English clown who sees potential in Rafael and trains him in the art of pantomime and comedy. Under Foottit's tutelage, the duo become a big hit, and are poached by the owner of an upscale Paris circus. There, they become really famous as a duo. Despite the wealth and fame, Rafael grows uncomfortable with the demeaning roles he is made to play, and quits to go into theatre, where he plays Othello. The theatre crowd cannot accept a black man on stage in a respectable role, and his career flops on the first showing. Rafael's hand is then broken by gangsters over unpaid gambling debts, and he ends up serving as a stage hand in a dingy countryside circus, back where he started. Thus, the film portrays Foottit as the benevolent white man who takes pity on a poor black man and elevates him to respectability and wealth. Perhaps as a concession to modern sensibilities regarding race relations, Rafael once or twice calls out Foottit for being just a little too patronizing. Nevertheless, when the ungrateful Rafael deserts Foottit, he quickly finds ruin. The film at once rails against racism but at the same time portrays a black man who can't succeed without a white master to protect him from his own irresponsibility and ignorance. This is a terrible disservice to the real Rafael Padilla. The reality is that Rafael and and Foottit never met each other before Paris. Rafael got his start as a clown in Paris, and had already been working for nine years at the Paris circus and was already one of the most famous and well-paid entertainers in France. Foottit did not train Rafael, it was the manager of the circus, Henri Agoust, a figure who appears nowhere in the film. It was also Donval who forced Foottit and Chocolat to pair up. Foottit thought Chocolat was an upstart, while Chocolat did not want to be sidekick. 3/5 Kurzon fucked around with this message at 14:16 on May 28, 2016 |
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May 28, 2016 09:31
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 04:45 |
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