Lecture 6

African film also gave my world view more depth; there are new film makers as well, Sembene Ousmane is only one. [His name is really Ousmane Sembene; the French reversed it.] However he is one of my favorites because of the esteem in which he held women in his work. I began “reading” African film in the mid-nineteen eighties with Ken Harrow at Michigan State University. The first films I saw by Sembene were Borom sarret [The Wagoner] (1966) and Mandabi [The Money Order] (1968).  Lakeland Community College owns a copy of Borom sarret. These films were full of chuckles that made the political and neocolonial criticism of Sembene a treat for this novice. It also sharpened my critical faculties; I now read movies and later art, like texts, and they are. 

I saw Ceddo (1977) at Michigan State University and at Cornell University. Both times I was moved to tears.   So I will give you a break and let you read the plot summary written by Will Gilbert.   However, you can view this film at YouTube in its entirety .

“The Ceddo try to preserve their traditional African culture against the onslaught of Islam, Christianity, and the slave trade. When King Demba War sides with the Muslims, the Ceddo kidnap his daughter, Princess Dior Yacine.  [They] protest their forcible conversion to Islam.  After trying to rescue the princess, various heirs to the throne are killed, and the King is murdered during the night. Eventually the kidnappers are killed and the princess is brought back to the village to confront the Imam, the religious leader, as all the villagers are being given Muslim names.” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077309/plotsummary

exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu

When Lakeland purchased Moolade (2004), I had no idea that it was the work of Sembene until I read the film and the credits ran. I knew that female circumcision was a topic in some African novels, but an African film that deals with such subject matters is a big move. Again this film has an edge; in earlier African films, one did not see such intimacy displayed graphically on the screen. I believe I saw my first African film kiss in 1992.  Moolade is a no-holds barred look at this issue and its conclusion never fails to generate positive response by its viewers. I believe that until conversion,  female circumcision was not a cultural practice.

                I agree with critics that Sembene moves effortlessly from French to Wolof; this seemingly easy transition is part of what makes his work compelling to African and western audiences. Moolade leaves questions unanswered about sex after circumcision. This film should make the reader revisit El Saadawi’s interview and novel, Woman at Point Zero. It should make the reader think critically about circumcision for women above and below the Sahara. As Sembene said in one of his last interviews on Moolaadé, “Woman Is the Future of Man.”