by Joel
#83 in Best of the 21st Century?, a series counting down the most acclaimed films of the previous decade.
With its sun-dappled village huts, its jaggedly Gaudi-like mosque (topped with a 150-year-old ostrich egg), its gorgeously bright primary colors, its grins and laughter, Ousmane Sembene’s Mooladé is a film of immense good cheer. It is also a movie about female genital mutilation, in which the tortured deaths of several young girls are acknowledged, in which a husband whips his wife mercilessly in the public square, in which a man is murdered outright, in which a brutal system of female subjegation, social oppression, fearful superstition, and child abuse is maintained, exalted, and bloodily enforced. But Sembene’s film is neither superficially naive, nor self-importantly morose. It is manifestly the movie of an 81-year-old master, simple in presentation but echoing with depths, observing tragedy with a sad smile, and buffonery with the indulgence of a satirist – affectionate but hardly gentle. Despite his knowledge of human weakness, despite his awareness of the power of the elders and the men and the female priestesses, Sembene offers up optimism, not the avoiding, weak kind but the earned kind, the kind that rests in reservoirs of strength, for which good humor is not a front but rather a manifestation of indomitable resilience and wisdom.
Moolaadé, which is probably the most well-known/popular African film in the United States (aside from The Gods Must Be Crazy), begins with several young girls fleeing their “purification” ritual. They take shelter with Collé (Fatoumata Coulibaly), the second wife of Ciré (Rasmane Ouedraogo), because she refused to have her own daughter “purified.” Collé institutes a mooladé, a protective spell over the girls (four in all – two others fled elsewhere, eventually discovered in tragic circumstances) – the spell is physically represented by a colorful rope which is stretched across Collé’s doorstep. This is just one instance of color and object being used to represent an idea – in Mooladé, the concepts are all physicalized in a fashion at once ritualistic and thoroughly cinematic. There is also more than a touch of irony in Collé’s protective strategy: she is cleverly circumventing one tradition (the Islam-connected circumcision rituals) with an even older one (the invocation of a magical spell), relying on the villagers’ superstition to advance what is in fact a modern agenda.
Ciré has tolerated Collé’s defiance before – allowing his daughter to avoid circumcision – and tells her she is his favorite wife (indeed, we’re led to believe, this is partly because of her dynamism and willpower). But now she seems to have gone too far, and at his brother-in-law’s request he forcefully warns and threatens her, encouraging her to utter the one word which will break the spell. Meanwhile, modernity and tradition clash on other fronts throughout the village: Ibrahima (Théophile Sowié), the chief’s son, has just returned from France and is supposed to take Colle’s daughter as a wife – though his father objects because she is not circumcised; “Mercenaire” (Dominique Zeïda) sells Western and local goods out of a tent in the village center, flirts with all the women, and cheats his customers, but turns out to be the most honorable man in this society (for which he pays the consequences); and the villagers, particularly the women, hover around their radios with a sense of relief, only to have their husbands remove and burn the machines in the wake of Collé’s defiance.
All these threads unwind at a leisurely pace, without the tension of the central situation ever fully dissipating. Indeed, as disagreements grow between these seemingly agreeable people (the elder men, while arrogant and manipulative, initially come off more as – sometimes lovable – buffoons than supervillains), the unease only increases. Finally, there are deaths, beatings, and burnings to contend with, but the film does not end in gloom and defeat. Instead, the women are finally empowered to stand up in solidarity, first against the priestesses, then against the men, who are not directly involved in the mutilation but whose rule enforces the ritual. The ending is rather didactic – it presents the issue starkly, with the women articulating their points one by one (most Islamic law does not condone this practice, many women have died from the procedure, live births become difficult afterwards, etc.) and the men digging in their heels, with many seeming a bit more one-dimensional than they had before. Yet the enthusiasm of the women, dancing, singing, jeering their husbands and fathers after years of pent-up rage, is infectious and the conclusion works powerfully on its own terms.
Politically, the film is a fascinating case study. Sembene (who died in 2007), a lifelong Marxist, was also a materialist and humanist which puts him at odds with those who take a protective stance towards all cultures and see a relativity as establishing different values for different groups of people. Not only does he refuse to condone a practice simply because it is “traditional”, he actually celebrates the technology and even Westernization of the village (one can read ambiguity into some of his juxtapositions and statements, but not nearly as much as in, say, Xala, his 1975 political satire which mocked revolutionists-turned-politicians as aping their former conquerors). In its final moments, the film cuts from the ostrich egg atop the mosque to a TV antenna; conditioned by an ingrained skepticism of technology and cheerful notions of “progress,” one could read this gesture as slightly tongue-in-cheek. Yet in the context of the film itself, in which the women and Ibrahima criticize the elders’ desire to cut the village off from the outside world, in which radios and televisions are presented as escape hatches, both soothing and exciting as they pull signals from the ether, this final image seems proudly defiant, and oddly moving. Much like Mooladé itself: at once Brechtian and cheerfully naive, politically savvy yet un-self consciously exuberant, morally centered yet sensuously open-minded and sensitive to the beauty even the figures and moments of brutality and despair (the red robes of the priestesses, the flicker of the radio bonfire, the white faces of the lynch mob chasing Mercinaire out of town). It’s a wonderful movie and if, in discussing its story and social aspects, I’ve neglected its aesthetic pleasures and human charms do not be deceived. No defensive curse here: Sembene’s stance is open and welcoming. He – and I – invite you to experience this film for yourself.
Previous film: Wendy and Lucy
Next film: The Son
I keep hearing about this film, read nothing but praising reviews and, now, here comes Joel adding to the sensational reception…
In the delirium that is my life of runnig around from work to home to errands to stupidity, I have, for some dumb-bell reason or another, put this film off and have yet to get to it…
Well, today’s the day we rectify that situation… I’m gonna see if SAM has it for a screening…
Terrific piece, as always Joel… This series has been something I really look for ward to here amongst the many that draw me back…
Thanks, Dennis – I hope you like it.
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[…] Posts…Moolaadé (Best of the 21st Century?)48. In My Skin (Dans ma peau)Giants and Toys – 1958, Yasuzo Masumura49. AntichristGuess the pic is […]
Moolaade certainly belongs in this category. It struck me as a pretty incisive portrait of a community conscious of its dependence (via the money and goodies Ibrahima brings home as well as the stuff Mercenaire sells) on the developed world and probably all the more reactionary for that reason. Sembene’s agitprop imagery juxtaposing the anthill, the mosque and the bonfire of radios is like something out of Russia in the Twenties. It’s “obvious” in one sense but also intensely cinematic. This film has at least some of the most memorable images of the decade.
Yes, absolutely. I was all the more pleased as I did not find Xala (the only other Sembene film I’ve seen) particularly strong visually, but Moolade was definitely one of the most richly photographed films of the 00s (and not in the sense of “empty” prettiness but, as you point in, with each element beautiful in the abstract but also pregnant with meaning).
XALA was not strong visually, but of course it’s narrative and political underpinnings are fascinating. Two other Sembenes are absolutely of the very first-rank: BLACK GIRL and the epic, CAMP DE THIAROYE.
Sam, have you seen Ceddo? That was the one I was most interested in during that Film Forum retro way back when, but unfortunately I never made it.
Ceddo is not a tribe, it is a state of mind.” — Ousmane Sembène
Indeed Joel! I found it one of Sembene’s boldest films stylistically, and thematically (dealing with power, selfishness and greed) one of his most powerful statements.
BTW, here is Samuel Wilson’s review of MOOLAADE from a few months ago at MONDO 70:
http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2010/05/moolaade-2004.html
I’ve been enjoying your studies of social dynamics, and you’ve presented this film in so engaging a way I’m going to make a point of seeing it.
Thanks, Jim. I hope you’ll return after you’ve seen it and let me know what you thought – always interested in feedback of that sort.
That’s a great point there Jim about Joel’s propensity for presenting the ‘social dynamics’ in many of his reviews. I do believe this element is his forte.
I didn’t know if you could write a completely positive “see this” type of review. But here you have, great work! This, and ‘Giants and Toys’ now sit 1 and 2 on my netflix queue.
Ha! Well, to be fair, most movies deserve their fair share of caveats, even the good ones – but this one I was pretty positive about overall. Glad to see you’ll check it out and, as I said to Jim, feel free to return & share your own thoughts after seeing!
well, this is where we disagree… the good ones don’t deserve caveats in my opinion (heck sometimes the bad ones don’t even). To me that reeks of trying to be a critic, or “like a little dog barked up my tree” as Paul Weller would say/sing. (“Billy hunt is a magical world, full of strippers and non-naked girls”, god how brilliant is he?)
Oh, that’s nonsense, Jamie! Even The Godfather has its flaws. Besides a 100% enthusiastic review like this one is good once in a while but dull if that’s all one has to offer. (Besides, I have to be honest about my opinion: would you really want me to review films in this series I had problems with without acknowledging them, so as not to upset the apple cart?)
“To me that reeks of trying to be a critic” Well, that’s sort of what I’m trying to be here! Overall, though I flirted with the idea of taking up criticism as a mindset and approach and mostly abandoned it on my blog it’s still the modus operandi for this particular series inasmuch as I’m committed to review films I haven’t seen before, picking the films ahead of time, and offering my thoughts thereof.
Besides, we have a fundamental disagreement here, to me making films and thinking about them from a creative not just as critical standpoint HEIGHTENS one’s appreciation of what does and doesn’t work in a film, making sensitive analysis far more acute. And by acknowledging shaky aspects we can do a far better job appreciating what works than by gilding over it.
I think you just don’t like that I disagree with you sometimes (Wendy and Lucy, Lives of Others, Serious Man – though I respect the latter two and overall approved of what I initially doubted about the first)! But that’s the beauty of Wonders, ha ha…besides, it’s all a bit of a red herring as the preponderence of my reviews are positive, either in their entirety or their majority – even in this series, I’ve written glowing reviews more often than hesitating ones, the hesitating ones just got noticed for whatever reason!
Just listened to All Mod Cons the other day, on a double-CD I burned with Pink Flag years ago. Great stuff!
P.S. The beauty of the overall picture is only possible to savor if you don’t try to apologize away the flaws or trouble points.
Also, there’s a bit of bad faith here. “Trying” to be a critic as if I’m purposefully hunting out flaws (you have a tendency to assume people have the same reactions to you, and thus their disagreements are due to something intentional rather than inadvertent). Quite the opposite. I WISH I could have given more glowing assessments of Lives of Others (this film in particular I’d looked forward to) and A Serious Man – believe it or not, I was not looking for contention and disagreement especially at that particular time when I was bit worn out by arguments and by writing in general.
But I saw the films, had mixed reactions to them, and then groaned and manned up, writing my honest reaction knowing I’d be in for some fire. So it’s actually the opposite of hunting for things to criticize, I’m running in the other direction, hoping against hope that I’ll like the movies as much as everyone else but I’m bound to be honest, which anyway I think is far more interesting than someone conforming to the “line” and just offering the praise we’ve all heard before. More interesting, but not necessarily fun to put forth (God help me when/if I find a movie in this series I feel overwhelmingly negative about!)! I know it seems like I love contention and disagreement, but I’m really a gentle soul who’d prefer to avoid controversy, honest Injun!
Anyway I may as well acnowledge there’s another film in the vein coming down the pipe next week so I better get my armor in gear…
I suppose on this we’ll have to agree to disagree.
We can disagree on opinions, as long as we don’t disagree on motives for said opinions…
“Moolaadé, which is probably the most well-known/popular African film in the United States (aside from The Gods Must Be Crazy)”
Indeed Joel. It’s also (arguably) the greatets African film ever, by the continent’s all-time master, and a titan of world cinema. I was fortunate a few years ago to see the film at a Film Forum retrospective with seven other Sembenes and was ravished and riveted by the use of color, the exotic textures and the fascinating anthropological rituals. The political underpinning too (which you masterfully broach here) was also of great interest. For me it ranks as one of the new millenium’s masterpieces, and I included it high up on my own Top 50 months back.
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