Les femmes de Bokassa

Officially, Jean-Bedel Bokassa acknowledged seventeen wives; unofficially, there were many more. Bokassa was a man who confused power with possession. A man for whom ruling also meant taking, subjugating, and imprisoning. An avowed polygamist, he displayed his wives like trophies. He loved beautiful women; very young women. And above all, the absolute authority he wielded over their bodies and their destinies. Having seized power on December 31, 1965, in the New Year's Eve coup, Bokassa initially presented himself as a rigorous military man, a man of order. But very quickly, the mask slipped. Megalomania took hold. Terror became a method of governance. In 1972, he proclaimed himself president for life. In 1974, a marshal. Then emperor. On December 4, 1977, he crowned himself emperor under the name Bokassa I, during a lavish and grotesque "Napoleonic" ceremony organized with French assistance. A moment of political theater that became one of the greatest tragic farces in contemporary African history. But behind the gilded trappings of the Empire, there are the women. Those who are seen; those who are hidden; those who are broken. And those who, sometimes, manage to survive. This video tells their stories.