Recently I watched the documentary “The Day I Will Never Forget”, about female genital circumcision; a painfully film where women talk about how their lives were ruined by the tradition of removing labia and clitoris, sometimes with a kitchen knife, then sowing the vaginal opening together, so that she will remain clean until she is married. To me, there is nothing more degrading someone can do to a woman.

Then to watch Ousmane Sembene’s “Moolaadé”, only made me realize how incredible powerful and political a film it really was. By itself, it is pure magic, so beautifully simple filmmaking, poetical with a strong sense of social commitment, but with the reality in mind, I sit back in awe of Sembene as filmmaker.

In a small village in Burkina Faso, four young girls flee their “purification” ritual and seeks moolaadé (protection) with Collé, a herself circumcised women, who some years earlier helped her own daughter. This does not please the elders, and soon “a minor domestic disturbance” leads the entire village to a confrontation between village traditions and the set of values by Collé.

Two things are important when approaching African filmmaking. One is to understand, that their narrative tradition is very different from the one in the west, as they, even today, rely more on oral tradition versus our written tradition. As such, their approach to narrative is very, at least with western eyes, simple. The other thing is, that the majority of those watching these films have little if any education, so in order convey a point, you have to do it as simple as possible.

This simplicity can be seen in the films by Sembene. There is no small talk; people only say what is important to say. A word alone can change everything, noted here as Collé can end it all by saying one word. His mise-en-scene is also extremely non-superfluous. Each scene has in it what is needed in the scene, which again makes whatever object Sembene decides to include in a scene as powerful as his words. In “Moolaadé” it is especially radios and batteries, as they are the means to communicate with the outside world, and at one point, the men in the village confiscate Collé and the other women’s radios and pile up in the village square.

It is not just female genital circumcision, or mutilation, that Sembene addresses, but also sexual violence, domestic violence, and the role religion and traditional plays in controlling thoughts of people, especially women and how it is used to deprive them their sexuality by mutilation and arranged marriage with children. In so many words, this is almost pure Marxist filmmaking.

Sembene’s second film in his trilogy exploring Female Heroes of Daily Life, “Moolaadé” is a triumph of filmmaking; poetical, life affirming, political and comical. Each scene is carefully created, almost naively simple in mise-en-scene and dialogue, but so rich of life and involvement. Watching “Moolaadé”, one feels alive and part of Sembene’s world; thru laughter and tears. Film when it is most alive.
 

Henrik Sylow