Moolaadé

Screening: Monday 20 April, 6:30pm

Ousmane Sembene | Senegal | 2004 | M violence, offensive language, sex scenes

This stirring final film from the master of African cinema follows a defiant wife who refuses to allow four girls to undergo traditional initiation rituals. “A rousingly political film that is a critique of traditional forms of authority and a celebration of the warmth and dynamism of African village life.” – New York Times

Among Sembene’s strengths as a storyteller are his deceptive simplicity and apparent looseness, which allow his drama to steadily gather momentum and political force. His ambiguous, multilayered treatment of a flirtatious local merchant who partially represents the world outside the village is emblematic of his virtuosity. — Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader.

Moolaadé is the most powerful political film on the screen today. And its persuasiveness is rooted in the Senegalese filmmaker’s use of African folk-narrative traditions – conjuring up a great, rich hubbub as brilliant with color and characters as any drama on a less daunting subject… As the village is stirred by rebellion, Sembene allows each argument its dignity, presenting the challenge to change and adapt as an embrace rather than an admonition. — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

(123 minutes, In Bambara and French, with English subtitles, DVD)