Through 'Dahomey', Diop not only records a historic moment; she invites us to confront the ongoing legacies of colonialism and to question whether restitution can truly undo the past or merely provide a path forward toward healing.

| Apr 25, 2025

A well-crafted and patient exploration of cultural theft, colonialism, and national identity.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Feb 28, 2025

Diop amplifies cries from the past, compelling us to confront their implications for the present and future. In doing so, she creates a cinema through which the silenced voices of history are finally given the space to speak...

| Jan 28, 2025

[Dahomey] is a study on what’s gained and lost... and what the passage of time means to a statue.

| Jan 21, 2025

Unrestrained creativity and genuine enthusiasm for the subject have made this otherwise straightforward account a compelling and moving tribute to a resilient culture and people.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 14, 2025

…'Dahomey' also certifies its contemporary condition by giving voice to Beninese youth who reassert the value of memory in the construction of a future for their nation. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 7, 2025

Mati Diop’s Dahomey is elegant and essential, poetic and profound. Haunting and percipient, Dahomey is documentary filmmaking in its most ecstatic form.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 31, 2024

With staggering simplicity, Diop gets to the point, without getting distracted along the way or falling in love with her suggestive images, and without obvious or dogmatic undertones. [Full review in Spanish]

| Dec 24, 2024

An artist herself, Diop goes far beyond a mere chronicling of the restitution. She creatively and powerfully brings the past and present to life...

| Dec 24, 2024

In Mati Diop's extraordinary effort, the vessels of loss and resilience can stem from the past and seep through the present. They are in constant dialogue, never resting for easy answers.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 19, 2024

This is another empowering piece of cinema that, at its core argues for proper reparations throughout the world.

| Original Score: B- | Dec 19, 2024

Mati Diop elevates simplicity to a masterpiece with an almost dreamlike documentary that tells the story of an exercise in reparation that is also an exercise in affirmation and recognition of guilt. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 13, 2024

An objet d’art that comments on itself, seeking not to explain or absolve so much as to stir dialogue about the complex issues it touches on.

| Dec 12, 2024

[An] observational-fantastic documentary. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 11, 2024

The histories are rich and engaging in their own right, but Diop’s respectful lens emphasizes the repatriation project’s importance to Benin.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 9, 2024

Mati Diop's sophomore feature establishes her as one of cinema's most singular filmmaking voices working today.

| Original Score: A | Dec 1, 2024

Dahomey gives a voice to African artifacts that were taken by France and returned to their African homeland in 2021. This unique and artistic documentary invites viewers to contemplate how the artifacts represent stolen histories and oppressed cultures.

| Nov 30, 2024

Full of cerebral challenges to take on the topic at hand, this is a unique documentary, to say the least, with interest stemming beyond the seemingly straightforward stakes at play.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 28, 2024

Reaches deep into the unsettled soul of a generation seeking not only justice for the past, but a chance to create a future in their own image.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 20, 2024

Diop captures the reverence shown by curator Calixte Biahthe, as the imposingly evocative pieces are exhibited in the Palais de la Marina in Cotonou.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 19, 2024