Senegal's Ousmane Sembène is often counted as the first black African auteur, having been one of the first to have creative control of a major film that got international attention. He was a writer initially, winning fame for his novels and stories on postcolonial themes. He didn't make his first film, "Black Girl," until he was in his forties.
This embrace of cinema was fueled by Sembène's desire for his social messages to reach a wider audience. Many of his films are very political, tackling various social ills and dilemmas. The early ones often reflected the uneasy relationship between Africa and the West. However, Sembène's work is far more valuable for capturing the African worldview. One thing I could never shake about recent Hollywood films set in Africa, like "The Woman King," is that while they are set in Africa and tell African stories, they are not made for African audiences. This is never the case in Sembène's films.
"Moolaadé," Sembène's final feature film, takes place in a village in the West African country of Burkina Faso. Female genital cutting is part of the village's purification ritual for young girls, a practice that the main character, Collé, views as dangerous, and decides to put a stop to. When a group of girls run away from purification, she protects them by taking them into her home and using a "moolaadé," a magical protective charm that bars anyone else from entry. At no point in the film is it ever explained what the moolaadé actually is or how it functions. However, the consternation of Collé's neighbors in reaction to the moolaadé is plain. Collé is the only one who can remove it, creating a standoff with the village's religious leaders and other members of the community.
There are certain universal character types that recur in many Sembené films. Collé is an example of the shrewd, and strong-willed woman. Her husband is the more foolish one, who is easily influenced by those in power. The merchant, Mercenaire, is the enterprising grifter. There's also a subplot involving Ibrahima, a successful young man who has prospered overseas in France, and returns home to claim his bride. Everyone's behavior is heightened, so we can laugh at their foibles, and sympathize with their tragedies. You also get a good sense of how familial relationships and the hierarchy of the village function through their interactions. Polygamy and arranged marriages are commonplace, and women have little autonomy. Collé asserting her power doesn't just challenge the traditions of the village, but the entire way that her community operates.
Sembené's filmmaking has evolved over time, to better complement his subject matter and narrative aims. The performances in "Moolaadé" are very broad, giving the story an allegorical tone, especially toward the end when the characters didactically spell out the moral for us. Some events are quite dark and intense, though the worst of it is kept offscreen. Sembené's use of imagery is very bold. His film is full of bright colors and pageantry, with all the characters dressed to the nines in beautiful costumes. There are symbols everywhere, like the impressive-looking village mosque, that looks awfully similar to a nearby anthill. And there's the moolaadé itself, physically represented by a few lengths of colorful rope. It presents no real barrier to Collé's house, but no one in the village would dare to test its power.
Western influences and modernity are sometimes portrayed as very negative forces in Sembène films. Here, however, he treats them more positively as a sign of necessary progress. Radios and mass media are shown to bring in new ideas, and the confiscation of them is treated as an act of repression. A pile of radios being burned up is one of the film's most striking, memorable images. However, the film ends with the triumphant sight of an antenna, promising that change is coming. After decades of more sinister shots of broadcasting equipment in techno thrillers, I found this a refreshingly different point of view.
And the message of "Moolaadé," likewise is one we've heard for decades now, but comes across very differently in the context of an Ousmane Sembené film. While I don't think that this is the most technically accomplished or well-made of his features, "Moolaadé" is a film that only he could have made, and made with such a clear passion and sense of purpose.
What I've seen - Ousmane Sembène
Black Girl (1966)
Mandabi (1968)
Emitaï (1971)
Xala (1975)
Ceddo (1977)
Guelwaar (1992)
Faat Kiné (2000)
Moolaadé (2004)
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