The great International Documentary Film Festival (Fipadoc), in Biarritz, presents this year “In the fray”, an exciting special selection on rugby. The Awakening of the Elephants, one of the five films selected, immerses us in the human and sporting challenges of the players of the Ivorian team. The directors Franck Guérin and François Bordes make us live moments of grace in the life of these sportsmen like no other. Interview.
RFI : Some define rugby as a rough sport played by gentlemen. What is the definition given to rugby in Côte d’Ivoire? ?
Francois Bordes : In Ivory Coast, there is a particular history around rugby. It is linked to the tragic accident of star player Max Brito in 1995 [l’ancien ailier du XV de Côte d’Ivoire est décédé le 19 décembre 2022, à l’âge de 54, NDLR]. At the time, Ivory Coast was the first African country to have managed to participate in a Rugby World Cup. It was on this occasion that the Ivorians discovered rugby and their team. But, at the same time, this accident cast a veil over rugby, because then families were afraid to send their children to rugby schools. For years, rugby seemed a bit dormant in Ivory Coast.
In your documentary, it is precisely this Max Brito, paralyzed since his spine was fractured during this accident, who plays a big role in the Awakening of the Elephants. What does he embody today for rugby in Côte d’Ivoire? ?
What we see in the film was an initiative of some former international players who had played with the Ivorian national team. They had been given the mission of reviving rugby in Côte d’Ivoire. They said to themselves that it is necessary to necessarily put Max Brito in the loop. That’s what they did. At the start, Max Brito was a little reserved, because he felt very far from the field. At the start, he came to participate a little in spite of himself. Then, he got caught up in the game. And he especially could not imagine this look of the young generation on him and what he could bring them. Little by little, he understood that he could, because of his history, have an important role to play. And he took his place.
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The first part of the film is dedicated to the selection of the national team of Côte d’Ivoire against Namibia, in 2021. We witness, among other things, the difficulty and the particularity of forming a national team with players from the Ivory Coast, but even more from France, others are European players born in the Ivory Coast. Did you have the feeling of having filmed the genesis of a new “ nation » rugby in Ivory Coast ?
It would be a big word to have filmed the genesis of a new “nation” of rugby. Franck Guérin and me, what motivated us was that it was a very special adventure. It was a competition where everyone thought they had no chance. For some players, they didn’t know this country at all or very little. They are there because they have a grandfather or a grandmother from the Ivory Coast, so they are selectable. And despite the fact that they have no chance of winning, they all want to go. It is this paradox that has fascinated us. This enormous desire to move mountains to participate in the World Cup.
In the film, you also dwell on the personal and sporting stories of some players : there is Oscar, “ the quiet force », Elias, proud of his « desire ” and his “ rigor “, Evrard Dion Oulai, an extraordinary colossus and impressive player, or Issa Bassono, the pride of a whole poor district of Abidjan from which he comes. Another juggles between his passion, rugby, and preaching at church in the evening : “ If Jesus had chosen a sport, it would have been rugby, a complete sport “. For you, who is the hero in your movie ?
The hero is the team. We wanted to show the diversity of backgrounds and personalities. We wanted there to be players who played locally in Côte d’Ivoire, some who came from France and discovered this country. We mixed the profiles. It is the team, the hero of this story.
The red thread of the film is the preparation for the qualifying match against Namibia for the 2023 World Cup. Namibia was considered to be the best team on the African continent at the time. For the Elephants, was there a before and after the game ?
Since this match, the continuation of the qualifications for the World Cup went badly. After the shooting, they lost the next game and their journey to the World Cup ended there. Afterwards, captain Bakary Meité, a charismatic and important person, stopped his career as a player, but wishes to play his full part as a trainer, coach or manager… In any case, there is the desire and the will to former players to promote this team.
How did the players react to the film ?
They saw the film before the other qualifying match. Unfortunately, it didn’t bring them luck, but they were very moved and very touched by the documentary. Seeing themselves on a screen and in a story that shows both the madness of this adventure and the heroism that comes out of it, I think it touched them.
When we look at the lists of films in competition at major film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin or at the Oscars ceremony, we see that there are never any films with sports or athletes as their theme. How do you explain that ?
I think the big difficulty is team sports. Talking about a team sport, whether in fiction or in documentary, is very hard. It’s complicated to attach yourself to a team entirely. It’s easier to make a film about sport when it’s an individual sport where you get attached to a star or a personality. For a team sport, it’s harder.
For you, it was hard to turn The Awakening of the Elephants ?
The shoot was very enjoyable. On this kind of documentary, it is the events that decide and we, we film and we film… Then, the film is made mainly during editing. And the assembly was difficult. Precisely, because it’s a team sport and the challenge is to succeed in making everyone exist. We realized that as soon as we leave the sporting domain, as soon as the competition moves away a little in the narration, the spectator picks up… It’s a bit of the frustration of this kind of film, because it there are a lot of things on the side: the player who doesn’t necessarily know this country, players who haven’t returned to the country of their grandparents, this kind of alchemy that you have to find to build a team… These are very interesting subjects, but which we can barely touch on, because as soon as we move away from the domain of the apparent challenge which is this competition, we lose the spectator.
In the image, the players dance and sing a lot. Did this inspire you for the filming and editing of the film ?
Sure. For me, it was a discovery. It’s such a part of the identity of this team, that it had to be at least as present as it is. And in reality, it dances and sings even more than in the film [rires].
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