Dahalo, Dahalo...

Set in the pays bara region of central-western Madagascar, where cattle theft — dahalo — has destabilised rural life so completely that official justice can no longer respond. In isolated communities, captured thieves face village justice that can extend to death. Ramampy follows a detachment of gendarmes attempting to retrieve a dahalo chief seized by villagers and return him to the formal justice system. The resulting film confronted power directly: it was banned by President Ratsiraka's government and not shown in Madagascar until the early 1990s. Dahalo, Dahalo... remains Ramampy's most substantial work — a courageous documentary that cost him years of suppression and earned him lasting respect.