[English review] "Zétwal", a Caribbean afrofuturistic experience
2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first man stepping on the Moon. History remembers that the United States and the USSR were at the forefront of this race to the stars. France made French Guyana an operating ground for its space activities, but a Martinican man conducted his own experiment in 1974. In the documentary "Zétwal ou l'homme qui voulait marcher sur la Lune" (2008) [t/n: Star or the man who wanted to walk on the moon], Gilles Elie-dit-Cosaque tells the story of Robert Saint-Rose.
One man, one project
In the early 1970s, the tension in the French-speaking Caribbean islands increased. People suffered and were abandoned by the authorities. Robert Saint-Rose wanted to put Martinique in the spotlight. He wanted his island to rise in every sense of the word. For several months, he built a rocket based on elaborate calculations in order to be the first Martinican (Caribbean and French) man to walk on the Moon. He relies on the verses of “Cahier d'un retour au pays natal” by Aimé Césaire to serve as fuel for him, with absolute no guarantee of being able to return to Earth. On D-Day, the rocket didn’t take off as he spent the day and part of the night reading aloud Césaire's poems. The next day, an article tells the story of his failure. His brother asked him to come to his senses and give up this crazy project that made him the laughing stock of the island. A few days later, Robert Saint-Rose and his rocket disappeared forever. No one knows what has become of him.
One man, one vision
Putting technology at the service of Black emancipation is one of the characteristics of Afrofuturism. The Caribbean, by virtue of its history, is at the crossroads of this cultural, artistic and philosophical movement which developed during the 20th century in the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. Robert Saint-Rose's approach is part of this desire to use technology to redefine oneself and rise above an oppressive system. How did he come up with this idea of going into space, but above all to put it into action? Was the aim of the project to actually go into space or was it to be the creator of a project escaping the society limits he lived within? Was he being a visionary? Is it just imagining or imagining and getting things done? Because this is what stayed with me once the documentary was over: a man who thinks about his condition as a Martinican man in the present, in the past and especially in the future; a man who wants to transform this Martinican condition, a man who gives himself the means to transcend time and space. Robert Saint-Rose had bought a camera and a film camera to immortalize his project. He set up his own archives and his brother kept them. If there could have been any doubt about the veracity of the testimonies thirty years later, can we deny the images showing the man in action? And it is thanks to technology enabling the creation of this documentary compiling the archives that his story can be spread around the world and transmitted from generation to generation. In the end, his adventure did shed light on Martinique from a scientifically poetic or poetically scientific angle. And wasn't that the goal he was looking for?
One man, one pioneer?
The documentary doesn't tell us if any research was done to find Robert Saint-Rose, if the police investigated... Did he really go to the stars or did he experience exile abroad? Can his work be used for a technological breakthrough? He was convinced that verbal force had the power to elevate, but what if he was actually the key? What if his brain was the vessel to provide the power source and direct the machine? I mean, maybe it wasn't the magical force of the verb evoked by Patrick Chamoiseau at the end of the documentary that would have set the rocket into motion. Maybe it was just the belief itself to make the rocket fly that could have made it come true. And this belief would be the purest form of energy, of a higher level than that of those women and men who use technology to bring our wildest dreams to life. Like a Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci whose various flying machines inspired scientists at the end of the 19th century, could Robert Saint-Rose be the one who will inspire scientists in a few centuries? It is not always a question of having a multitude of models to validate the legitimacy of an idea. Sometimes a single individual can be the model. Even with this documentary, where curiosity never gives way to mockery, some (many) would laugh at the legend of Robert Saint-Rose. Yet he embodies this spirit of rebellion and sacrifice so that his compatriots may be accepted at the great table of humanity. A desire to restore greatness to a Caribbean identity ignored by the rest of the world. He did not wait for an invitation to make his voice heard... It is up to future generations to decide if this "Zétwal" will be a star in the development of this path of Caribbean excellence. This is what I take away from this documentary film: the desire for recognition and the enhancement of an artistic heritage drawn from the affirmation of his pride in being Caribbean. And who said that a Caribbean person could not really go to space one day? This is the future staged by the duo iShango Sound in their short film for the single "Lè Ou Lov 2069"? Caribbean futurism will only have limits in the universe.
Photo credit: la maison garage.fr
This article was first published on July 31st 2019 on myinsaeng.com. You can read the French original version here.