The Pervading Imperial Dream

A man seizes control of a republic in a violent coup, renames it an "Empire", and declares himself Emperor. No, I'm not talking about Star Wars, I'm talking about Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the real life autocrat who took over the Central African Republic and renamed it the Central African Empire. Bokassa is the subject of Werner Herzog's 1990 documentary, Echos from a Sombre Empire (Echos aus einem düsteren Reich), a fascinating rumination on the lingering legacy of a violent madman.

Herzog does not narrate this documentary as he usually does. Instead, a French journalist named Michael Goldsmith, who was imprisoned and tortured by Bokassa, conducts interviews with a number of people in Bokassa's life, including his wife, possible daughter, and the president of CAR that both preceded and succeeded his rule. This president, David Dacko, confirms to Goldsmith that the rumours that Bokassa routinely dined on human flesh were true. Here Goldsmith demonstrates how Bokassa broke Goldsmith's glasses:

It's a poignant symbol of how despotic regimes prefer people do not see clearly. The purpose of the documentary is to evoke the atmosphere and essential emotional landscape of the aftermath of Bokassa's reign. We see the ruined palace Bokassa once occupied, we see a strange topless photo of his vicious Romanian mistress, we see aging footage of Bokassa parading in bizarre, antiquated European attire. I read a bit more about Bokassa online. He established a morality brigade to prowl dance halls and bars, he imprisoned people for being unemployed. On the plus side, he abolished female circumcision.

The documentary does spend a lot of time covering the victims of his tendency to imprison and torture people, which he did on the most tenuous and personal of provocations.

Mostly the film doesn't feel the need to list atrocities. Herzog instead contemplates the pageantry and personal relationships. The effect is to underscore the performative nature not only of Bokassa's decadent displays but that of all the brutal men he admired and imitated, of human governmental regimes in general which rely heavily on ritual and costume.

Echoes from a Sombre Empire is available on The Criterion Channel.

X Sonnet 1970

The velvet shreds expose a yellow wall.
With jealous eyes, a people stalk the house.
A thousand claws assaulted heaven's hall.
The mighty king became a crazy mouse.
His dreams were dipped in gold and super glue.
His victims checked their voices into dreams.
The blazing sun was painted black and blue.
Its jam was squished between its ruddy seams.
And now the ghosts are screaming through the cracks.
The paint has peeled beyond repairing fists.
The opulence recedes on cloudy tracks.
The bones were ground to clouds of choking mists.
The obelisk repeats its famous line.
And only mould remains of spoiled wine.