“A stark portrait of someone seeking a place called home, both literally and metaphorically.”

It was Martha Graham, perhaps the greatest dancer of her generation and someone whose technique is still seen as highly influential today, who famously said that “dance is the hidden language of the soul”, with the art of movement being one of the oldest forms of creative expression. However, it is often taken for granted and not always viewed with the same admiration outside the circle of viewers who appreciate the medium and the people who use their bodies to tell a seemingly infinite number of stories. This is a sentiment challenged by Jenni Kivistö and Jussi Rastas, who use it as the foundation for Silent Legacy, a quietly moving documentary that follows Sibiry Konate, a dancer who came from Burkina Faso and pursued a career in Europe. After relocating to Finland he has been honing his craft in the years leading up to becoming the subject of this fascinating exploration of his career. Throughout the film, the directors follow him in both Africa and Europe as he tries to find the sense of belonging that has eluded him for his entire personal and professional life. A film that celebrates the art of dance and also investigates the challenges that come with finding sanctuary in surroundings vastly different from your own, Silent Legacy is a fascinating work, particularly in how it provides us with a stark portrait of someone seeking a place called home, both literally and metaphorically.

At its core Silent Legacy is a character study about someone who exists perpetually in-between. Konate is proudly African, and infuses his heritage into every ounce of his art, even if he is playing to an audience that usually doesn’t recognise these cultural cues, and instead just views him as a representative of an exotic, faraway land. This reduction of his skills and the background that informs his artistry is the precise point from which Kivistö and Rastas choose to build this film, portraying Konate as a man caught between two worlds, both of them very important in crafting his identity and his artistic curiosities, but neither providing him with the support and feeling of safety that most of us take for granted. His work as a choreographer in Finland is contrasted with a temporary return to his village in Burkina Faso, the film oscillating between exploring his artistry and showing his efforts to give back to his community at home, both sources of deep passion that he clearly hopes will help make a difference. His search for meaning becomes a steadfast attempt to provoke change, which the directors capture exceptionally well, allowing Konate himself to guide the narrative while also gently providing their own perspective as outsiders. This creates a vibrant tapestry of different ideas that all serve the same function, namely to examine the relation between art and life, and how they tend to inform one another in ways that we cannot always predict.

In constructing this film, the directors walk a narrow conceptual tightrope and manage to effectively avoid the same tropes that usually come when filmmakers from outside Africa take a special interest in a particular aspect of the culture. Instead, they choose to focus on a few key points that go beyond merely a fascination, evolving more into a steadfast celebration of two very different cultures, with particular focus on the elements that bring them together. Early in the film, Konate talks about his approach, which is to draw inspiration from everyday life, simply observing the world as it passes by and doing what he can to assimilate these qualities into his work. The juxtaposition of the urban, snow-covered landscapes of Finland with the arid, scorching tracts of land in his native Burkina Faso creates a fascinating dynamic, showing two sides of Konate’s identity, as an artist and as a person who has used elements of both to construct his bespoke perspective, which forms the core of many of the film’s most memorable moments. Silent Legacy flows with the same fluidity as the subject’s choreography, a freeform, intentionally intangible bundle of ideas and influences, woven together to create something unique and thought-provoking. Much of the information we glean through a combination of Konate’s own testimony and our personal interpretation, making this film a multifaceted affair in both the subject matter and its approach to bringing these ideas to life.

At a glance, Silent Legacy does seem overly simple and restrained, with its formality being slightly rigid, and the focus leaping between different perspectives and not having a clear focus. However, all the loose conceptual strands begin to come together, allowing the film to become a steadfast celebration of artistic expression and how it can take many different forms, and be drawn from innumerable sources, with even the most seemingly insignificant ideas forming the inspiration for stunning works of art. The film may not be the definitive look at the art of interpretive dance, but it achieves something far more compelling: viewing art (not solely dance) as an ever-changing series of conversations between the mind, body and spirit. This has a lot more value when we consider that this is less a film about how art is perceived, and more a story of homecoming in various forms, and the emotional salvation that comes when finally discovering one’s life purpose, which is also not ironclad or immune to adjustments when required. Once its initial exposition has been done, the film manages to be much looser and more ethereal in how it follows Konate and his (meta)physical journeys between the continents, both of which he considers his home, albeit in very different ways. All of this comes together and creates a compelling depiction of the extent to which art influences life, and vice versa – and by looking at these themes through a critical but admiring lens, the directors not only create a meaningful portrait of a truly fascinating artist, but pay tribute to the many creative people who turn to their individual crafts as not only a form of self-expression, but also a means to bring about long-lasting change.