Fanon : a powerful portrait of the thinker and activist
Fanon: A powerful portrait of the thinker and activist Jean-Claude Barny’s film Fanon, which highlights the life and thought of Frantz Fanon, finally hits the big screen after ten years of work. A film that explores the man, the psychiatrist, and the revolutionary thinker through a poignant reconstruction of his commitment to Algerian independence and his reflection on alienation.
April 2, 2025 marks the release of the biopic Fanon, a film by Jean-Claude Barny that focuses on the life and work of Frantz Fanon, an iconic figure of the 20th century. After more than ten years of hard work to secure the necessary funding, Barny succeeds in paying tribute to a man who shaped the history of psychology, politics, and the struggle for decolonization. Played by Alexandre Bouyer, Fanon reveals himself in all his aspects: the engaged doctor, the militant for Algerian independence, and the revolutionary thinker.
The film focuses on Frantz Fanon’s early years in Blida, Algeria, where he starts working as a psychiatrist in a hospital. It is there that he faces extreme conditions, where patients are chained and treated with cruelty. His radical approach to psychiatry, influenced by François Tosquelles, disrupts the practices of the time and shocks his white colleagues. The focus is on alienation, a central concept in his work, which links psychological suffering to colonial oppression.
A man, a thinker, a revolutionary
Frantz Fanon is much more than a psychiatrist; he is a fighter and a theorist of decolonization. In The Wretched of the Earth, he explores how colonization generates alienation not only among the colonized but also the colonizers themselves. Jean-Claude Barny succeeds in bringing out this dimension of thought while emphasizing the human relationships that stem from it. Through the figure of Sergeant Rolland, played by Stanislas Merhar, the film shows the traumatic impact of war, a torturer but a human being, a victim of post-traumatic stress. This psychological complexity enriches the portrayal of Fanon, who does not merely denounce, but seeks to understand the nature of the violence of war.
Fanon, as a militant and activist, does not hesitate to support the FLN (National Liberation Front) in its fight for Algerian independence. The film thus shows the tension between his vocation as a doctor and his commitment to the armed struggle, a moral dilemma that haunts the character throughout the story.
A film defending memory and humanity
Barny’s biopic stands out for its desire not simply to tell a story, but to capture the very essence of Fanon’s thought and its impact on the world.
