Moolaadé
(aka Moolaade/2004/New Yorker Video
DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B
Ousmane Sembene
was an innovator and invented cinema in Africa as much as anyone else. Forget the silly Hollywood adventures where
the stars are visitors going to “the jungle” and the like (often through lame
stock footage) as the area was treated as another planet. Instead, his films were always bold, daring
and controversial to the end. They were
also timely and always showed a profound respect for women that shamed many a
“progressive” cinema worldwide and Moolaadé
(2004) is as powerful as any of them.
The word
roughly translates into protection for young ladies against the sick
ritualistic practice of the genital mutilation of young pre-teens in a ritual
they dare to call “purification” and in this film, one woman decides to stand
up against the practice by standing up against her whole village. Turns out it takes a village to kill and
mutilate, plus the one in this film is not only a microcosm of others in
Africa, but of any town tightly knit that is allowed to have its pettiness
entertained as a right to power.
It is
also an indictment of outside influences destroying Africa, a theme of all of
Sembene’s works. In an interesting turn,
it is about attacking Islam as a bad influence, especially when twisted to the
ends of some very sick people. However,
the film is ultimately a character study of a society and the high price they
pay when they make their women disposable.
Under seen and underrated, it is a welcome DVD release.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image seems to be from a PAL master, causing
some detail issues on this NTSC DVD, but the color schemes are very good and
come through well enough, though it is so good that you’ll wish this were HD or
35mm. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
just fine, can be a tad loud and has no palpable surrounds, but is
consistent. Extras include a 16-page color
booklet in the DVD case and extras over two DVDs.
DVD 1 has
a fine featurette about Sembene dubbed Portrait
Of A Director and a trailer. DVD 2
adds a making of featurette, interviews with activists on the subject,
director/actress interview, footage of the African premiere and FORWARD
promotional film as one of three more featurettes about this nightmare problem.
For more
of great key films by Sembene that also happen to be on DVD from New Yorker,
try these links:
Black Girl/Borom Sarret
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3072/Black+Girl/Borom+Sarret+(Wagoner)
Xala
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2302/Xala+(1974)
- Nicholas Sheffo
