Review of Moolaadé (2004) by Art S — 11 May 2013

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 moolaade (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.