Review of Moolaadé (2004) by Jareth S — 06 Nov 2010

MOOLAADE is a film that needs to be seen by more people. With all the Oscar-bait 'serious issue' films being released each year, it's great to see a film that also knows how to engage us with its story and its characters rather than just waving its fist in righteous indignation.

I can understand Ebert's concerns about the difficulty of trying to convince people to see a subtitled film without name stars that takes place in Africa and is about a terrible social injustice done to women. It doesn't sound like the type of entertainment people generally want to watch while shoveling popcorn into their mouths, but it's worth checking out.

The director, Ousamane Sembene, thankfully spares us the gory details about what exactly this 'cutting' ceremony entails (though the dvd extras go into this discussion -- not for the squeamish) and instead focuses on this strong-willed woman's fight to protect a group of girls who have come to her seeking sanctuary, using other village superstitions to her advantage. She knows that this ritual can lead to all sorts of health problems and can even result in death. The women in this community who accept this barbaric 'tradition' being done to their daughters are delaying progress just as much as the men who claim it to be a religious requirement and refuse to marry a female who has not been 'purified' (mutilated). Possibly realizing that knowledge is a great weapon, the village men take away the women's radios to keep them from hearing any truth from the outside world, fearing this small rebellion will spread.