"Moolaade"
Four frightened young girls rush to the home of a village elder and seek the protection of his second wife, Colle (Fatoumata Coulibaly). The girls are running from the dreaded rite of genital mutilation called the Purification and Colle, an avid opponent of the brutal ritual, is the only one who can save them when declares the ancient right of Sanctuary in "Moolaade."
81-year old icon of African cinema, Ousmane Sembene, takes on the ambitious, deep-hearted task of telling the world about the primitive Senegalese custom of cutting off the genitalia of young girls that is supposed to purify them to be women untainted by desire. The young-at-heart helmer/scripter approaches this serious subject matter in a way that is thoughtful, intelligent, entertaining and eye-opening.
Colle earned a certain degree of grudging respect in the village for her decision, seven years earlier, to not permit her daughter Amasatou (Salimata Traore) to submit to the painful, often life threatening mutilation. Her personal rebellion prompts the four scared little girls to go to the strong-willed woman for help. Village law states that if Colle declares "Moolaade," or sanctuary, her door cannot be trespassed to take back the girls. This is symbolized by a simple black, red and gold rope strung across the threshold that anyone not welcome may pass.
But, "Moolaade" is much more than the struggle of a woman of conviction to protect her wards from horrific, painful and, sometimes, deadly ritual. This is a multilayered film that takes the time to show you the other sides of life in the small village. The Purification is so inured into the society that a cadre of red-robed women elders performs the cutting with great ritual, making it an unquestioned passage for all girls.
The men of the village, and their elders, fear Colle's call for Moolaade while trying to bluff their way through the controversy, calling it a "minor domestic issue." The return of the chief's son, a successful businessman in Paris, may offer a solution to the dilemma as he is the fiancé to Colle's daughter. But, the fact that Amasatou is "bilakoro" (un-purified) brings down the wrath of his father who forbids the marriage, causing a rift between father and son. Another layer of complexity is introduced with the character Mercenaire (Dominique T. Zeida), the owner of a mobile general story who plies his trade and does his best to bed the women of the village. The merchant takes on importance as his more worldly ideas force him to intervene at a critical moment for Colle.
The personal elements of "Moolaade" are held in contrast and comparison with the social attitudes and primitive rites that prevail even today – 38 African nations continue to require Purification of its female children, some as young as 4-years old. Colle's declaration of Sanctuary brings to play ancient laws that precede the Muslim faith and the awful clitoris-severing ritual. It is interesting to watch a film from a culture where a simple multicolored rope has the power of a solid steal door in keeping out those uninvited.
The broad palate that Sembene uses to paint his layered story is so complexly interwoven that you forget that this film was, in all likelihood, made on a budget that would not even pay for a Hollywood film's limo costs. I give it an A.
========== X-RAMR-ID: 39060 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1341032 X-RT-TitleID: 10004518 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1488 X-RT-RatingText: A
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews