Translingualism and race passing in Samba: On fantasies of migrant identity in contemporary France

With its translingual dialogue in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Serbian, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s 2014 film Samba depicts the use of languages other than French as both a hindrance and an asset for migrants in contemporary France. Walid, the film’s main Maghrebin character, engages in the practice of race passing by disguising himself as a Brazilian named Wilson to escape the racism he has experienced as an Algerian in France. However, in a key scene in which Samba and Walid are pursued by immigration police, the characters only manage to escape when Walid reveals his true identity and gains the trust of a maid through use of their native Arabic. This article draws on scholarship about the practice of race passing to conduct an analysis of Walid’s hybrid, translingual identity. Mapping the film against a broader study of the importance of language in French films about passing, it reveals how the shifting identities of Samba’s migrant characters can become sites in which axes of oppression and empowerment intersect.