La sirène des tropiques

What a treat to see Josephine Baker in her film debut at age 21, and what a significantly better role than what Hollywood was offering relative to African-Americans at the time. Baker's character is exoticized and unfortunately speaks broken English, but she's also smart, alluring, and talented. She got top billing and is magnetic every time she's on the screen. We're treated to her looking cute in flapper outfits, her dancing on the stage, and her splashing around topless in a tub. What I was impressed by most was that this was a human portrait of a young woman who is vibrant, joyful, and in love, which was many decades ahead of its time compared to American films.

The film is not without its flaws, starting with the colonial scenes which, while not awful, are off-putting. On the other hand, the colonizers are shown to be evil, and in parallel scenes we see a woman fending off the advances of a rich man in France, and another (Baker) fighting off his right-hand man in what seems to be the West Indies. They are the cruel ones, exploiting the land and moving people around like pawns on a chessboard. It's not a very deep plot though, and it drags in places when Baker is not in the scene (and even when she is, it gets a little silly, e.g. the chase on the steamer). I was more than happy to be patient with those scenes to see Baker shine though. It was pretty interesting to see Luis Buñuel listed as assistant director in the opening credits too.