Moolaadé (2004)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Ousmane Sembene

Writer:

Ousmane Sembene (writer)

Release Date:

4 March 2005 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Set in Burkina Faso, an inspiring story about a group of women who stand up for their rights against the traditions of their village

Plot:

When a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female circumcision, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.

Plot Keywords:

Female Circumcision | Torture | Caesarean Section | Suicide | Fanatism

Awards:

6 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Fatoumata Coulibaly	...	Collé Gallo Ardo Sy
Maimouna Hélène Diarra	...	Hadjatou
Salimata Traoré	...	Amasatou
Dominique Zeïda	...	Mercenaire
Mah Compaoré	...	Doyenne des Exciseuses
Aminata Dao	...	Alima Bâ
Rasmane Ouedraogo	...	Ciré Bathily
Ousmane Konaté	...	Amath Bathily
Bakaramoto Sanogo	...	Abdou
Modibo Sangaré	...	Balla Bathily
Joseph Traoré	...	Dugutigi
Théophile Sowié	...	Ibrahima (as Moussa Théophile Sowié)
Balla Habib Dembélé	...	Sacristain (as Habib Dembélé)
Gustave Sorgho	...	Bakary
Cheick Oumar Maiga	...	Kémo Tiékura

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

Senegal | France | Burkina Faso | Cameroon | Morocco | Tunisia

Language:

Bambara | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:M | France:Unrated | Sweden:11 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-11 | Netherlands:12 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Senegal

Company:

Ciné-Sud Promotion

Trivia:

The meaning of the word Moolaadé is magical protection.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV)

Africa ought to be proud of this film

Ousmane Sembene is a colossus among African filmmakers. He is what Kurosawa and Ray are to Asia. At 82, this man is making films on women's problems, on colonialism, on human rights without losing sight of African culture.

"Moolaade" deals with rebellion by African women against female circumcision, a tradition upheld by elders, Muslim and animist, in a swathe of countries across Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa. Interestingly, the film is an uprising within the social traditions that allow the husband full powers over his wives and acceptance of other social codes to whip his wife in public into submission. How many women (and feminist) directors who preach about female emancipation would have dared to make a film on this subject in Africa? The subject could cause riots in countries such as Egypt. Sembene is more feminist than women and I admire this veteran for this and other films he has made. He graphically shows how women are deprived of sexual pleasures through this practice and how thousands die during the crude operation.

"Moolaade" deals with other aspects of Africa as well. It comments on the adherence to traditional values that are good--six women get protection through a code word and piece of cloth tied in front of the entrance to the house. It comments on materialism (including a bread vendor with a good heart for the oppressed who is called a "mercenary" by the women who claim to know the meaning of the word) that pervades pristine African villages (the return of a native from Europe and the increasing dependence on radios for entertainment and information).

Sembene's cinema is not stylish--its style stems from its simplicity and its humane values. Sembene's films allow non-Africans to get inside the world of the real Africa far removed from the world of the Mandelas, constant hunger and the epidemic of AIDS that the media underlines as Africa today. Sembene's film is not history, it is Africa today. The performances are as close to reality as you could get.

At the end of the film shown at the recent Dubai Film Festival, I could not but marvel at a man concerned not at making great cinema for arts' sake but using it creatively to improve the human condition of a slice of humanity the world (and the media) prefers to ignore.