The Woody Allen of African Cinema

Film Forum pays homage to the recently deceased [Ousmane Sembene], the Woody Allen of African cinema in terms of his being prolific, in a retrospective that starts today and continues to December 13. 

He never shirked his responsibility to himself as a filmmaker representing a developing nation.  The beauty of Sembene is his facility in dealing with both the tiny African elite in Dakar as well as the legless beggars hauling themselves along the dirty, crowded streets on their arms, begging for change, and everyone in between.  Even if his films weren’t highly entertaining, emotional and provocative pieces, the sheer educational qualities would be reason enough to watch them.  As it happens, however, Sembene manages to inform us of the tenuous political and social climate of Dakar as well as tell us an engaging, often hilarious, always affective story.

[Xala] kicks off the series at the Film Forum, and it’s a fitting choice in that it is one of Sembene’s funniest films, and serves as a sort of microcosm of the subject matter of much of his oeuvre.  At the dawn of Senegal’s independence from France, Sembene makes it clear that French money still dominates the Senegalese political scene.  One official, Aboucader Beye, uses that money to find himself a third, younger wife. But when he finds himself impotent on his wedding night, he laments the xala, or curse, that landed him in this predicament.  Engaging the tensions at the heart of the culture torn between tribalism and Westernization, the gender constructs of an often polygamous society, and the political tumult of the nation, Xala is a perfect pick to kick off this retrospective on a legendary filmmaker.