Moolaadé (2004)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Moolaadé (2004) -- O. Sembene

In retrospect, this was probably the best movie to watch for mother's day -- a bunch of African mothers fight the tribal elders to try to end the practice of "purifying" girls through genital mutilation.  Apparently, it still goes on and girls (aged 4 to 8) sometimes die from unsanitary conditions/infection/blood loss.  But this is a vibrant and colorful movie that brings culture alive even as it takes on the form of a parable, so don't be turned away by the topic.  It is a protest film by a director who was then 81 years old (Ousmane Sembene from Senegal) and it is feminist.  I wonder did it have any effect on real practice? The media are identified by the village elders as the source of the rebellion, and hence, in a surreal image, radios are burned.  But a travelling salesman who also represents a more westernized Africa is treated with more ambivalence by the director.  Fighting fire with fire, a moolaadé (protection spell) averts the immediate crisis and allows the women (or woman -- Collie Ardo Gallo Sy -- played by Fatoumata Coulibaly) to be heard, if not accepted.