Review of Moolaadé (2004) by Radhika N — 26 Mar 2008

One of the few African films I have seen that does not come from South Africa. I was not looking forward to seeing a movie about FGM because I had an image of the subject either getting trivialized or the movie being too trite.

I was pleasantly surprised. The movie spins a tale steeped in African rural life but doesn't only show simple-minded villagers (though one has to say that most of the women were more progressive than the men).

At one point after a ban on radios and tvs in the village by the elders (men, again) all the radios are piled in front of the mosque and eventually burnt. One peasant woman asks another why they would take away the radios from the women to which the other woman says - its because they want to control our minds and not let us hear or learn the new things on the outside.

To me this story is less about the evils of FGM and more about the power to change. One doesn't have to tow the line even if one is the underdog. One can fight injustice and one should fight injustice.

Otherwise things will never change. I think I am going to get more of Sembene's films to watch. Oh and the singing in the film is hauntingly beautiful.