Moolaadé

Moolaadé
Directed by	Ousmane Sembène
Produced by	Ousmane Sembène Thierry Lenouvel
Written by	Ousmane Sembène
Starring	Fatoumata Coulibaly
Music by	Boncana Naiga
Cinematography	Dominique Gentil
Edited by	Abdellatif Raïss
Release date	15 May 2004 (2004-05-15) (Cannes Film Festival)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	Senegal / France / Burkina Faso / Cameroon / Morocco / Tunisia
Language	French / Bambara
Box office	US$434,600[1]

Moolaadé ("magical protection") is a 2004 film by the Senegalese writer and director Ousmane Sembène. It addresses the subject of female genital mutilation, a common practice in a number of African countries, from Egypt to Nigeria. The film was a co-production between companies from several Francophone nations: Senegal, France, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Morocco, and Tunisia. It was filmed in the remote village of Djerrisso, Burkina Faso. The film argues strongly against the practice, depicting a village woman, Collé, who uses moolaadé (magical protection) to protect a group of girls. She is opposed by the villagers who believe in the necessity of female genital cutting, which they call "purification".

Context

To outsiders, the act known as "female genital cutting" is often shocking. Practitioners surgically remove part or all of the female genitals. Traditionally, it is cut with an iron sheet or a knife, then sutured back with needlework or a thorn. There is no anesthetic during the whole process, and the disinfection is not thorough. Gynecologist Dr Rosemary Mburu of Kenya estimates that as many as 15% of circumcised girls die of the excessive loss of blood or infection of the wound.^[2]

Plot

The film is set in a colourful Burkina Faso village dotted with termite mounds, and a mosque made from clay that resembles a gigantic hedgehog. The village is a symbol of green Africa, a time capsule that nonetheless is not immune to the influences of the outside and ‘modern’ world.^[3]

Collé is the second of her husband's three wives. She is the most intelligent, humorous, charming, and is also loved most by her husband, who is portrayed as a temperate enlightened man. Her nubile daughter, Amasatou, has become engaged, although she has not undergone female genital cutting, considered a prerequisite for marriage in the local tradition. Collé opposes this practice. This has led the elders in the village, women as well as men, to despise her daughter. Amasatou herself unceasingly requests to have her genitals cut to secure her social status and marriage acceptance, but Collé remains unmoved. She is willing to protect not only her daughter from the life-threatening genital cutting but also four little girls who join her to refuse the practice. Collé draws a symbolic line, the colorful rope Moolaadé, a "magical protection," across the gate of the family's premises. Moolaadé prevents the women elders who carry out the practice, and who have been searching for the girls, from entering the house.

In the beginning, the first wife seems to be against Collé's plan to protect the girls. However, later they become closer and she tells Collé that she also opposes female genital cutting. She feared making it known, but has been helping her all along, without anyone's notice.

While facing her daughter's request to be circumcised, Collé explains that she does not want her daughter to end up on the same road she travelled. Her first reason is that it has too many indefinite outcomes, some of which can be fatal. An even bigger reason is that Collé had two unsuccessful pregnancies before Amasatou, which caused her great physical and emotional pain and were almost fatal. In a flashback, there is a scene of her and her husband having sexual intercourse which is clearly causing her physical pain. He falls asleep, while she is unable to do so because the sexual intercourse brings unbearable pain for her rather than pleasure. She keeps biting her ring finger, symbol of her marriage, and dares not say a single word even when her finger bleeds. At dawn, she is still awake to wash her body, as well as her blood off the bed sheet.

If Collé represents African women who awaken to resist patriarchal control, then her daughter's fiancé Ibrahima, a rich, upstanding, and open-minded young man living in France, one of Africa's former colonizers, who returns, filmically representing the enlightened elite educated abroad who is welcomed home and observes the barbaric tradition of his village home. His knowledge, money and technologies such as television are appreciated. He witnesses a funeral of two little girls, who desperately drowned themselves in a well to avoid the mutilation of their genitals. The girls' relatives are sad, but the incident does not lead the villagers to question the tradition. Ibrahima is shocked and worried by this scene which keeps fermenting in his mind. Meanwhile, Ibrahima's father wants him to renounce his engagement to Amasatou, and marry his innocent eleven-year-old cousin instead, who has already undergone female genital cutting. Ibrahima refuses to do so, recognizing such an act as child abuse, and visits Amasatou's house despite what the villagers say. He confirms her as his fiancée, regardless of her "impure" status according to the local tradition.

The African women's most important daily entertainment, besides sitting together and chatting under the tree shadow enjoying the cool air, is enjoying the radio which transmits news of the world and the music. However, the elders deem this atmosphere to be counterproductive due to a number of recent events such as Ibrahima refusing to marry his cousin or Collé's protection of the five children (including her daughter). The elders think that Ciré Bathiliy, Collé's husband, has lost the ability to control his own wife so the elders insist that he beat her with a leather whip in front of the village to show that he still controls her. The elders want her to utter the magic word so they can take the four girls from her protection but, no matter how hard her husband whips her, she endures and refuses to give her tormenters the satisfaction of a scream or cry. Opposite groups of men and women shout to her to revoke or to be steadfast, but no woman interferes. When she is on the verge of collapse, a merchant steps out and stops the whipping.

The womanizing merchant is called Mercenaire by people in the village. He is a war veteran who has become a travelling merchant after being discharged from the army after he accused his superiors of corruption. When he converses with Ibrahima, he accuses him, his father, and his uncle of pedophilia and is suddenly no longer concerned about the money that he could possibly get from the rich young man. He is bringing all the plastic junk to the village; the junk is brightly and boldly colored as the magnificent costumes the people wear in Africa. He sells his wares at extremely high prices. Later he is hunted out of the village and, when out of sight, murdered.^[3]

During the whipping, one of the four girls' mother steals her daughter from Collé's house and sends her to get her genitals cut, although the little girl screams and tries to resist. The girl dies as a result of the cutting and her mother regrets her previous support of the practice. The other mothers all see the tragedy happen and thus change their minds and begin opposing genital cutting. This persuades Cire to revoke the protection and return the children to their parents.

From the men's point of view, the radio is a bad influence on the women because it teaches them things from the outside world, such as the idea of equality or how excision isn't truly necessary. Therefore, the elders decide to burn the radios that they confiscated earlier. Although all the radios are supposed to be burned, some are hidden by the women of the village. The women are united because of the pain caused by the genital cutting. They are all mourning, they are all awakened, and when the elders return, they are greeted with shouts of, "No more genital cutting!". Colle demands that the women give up their knives, which she then carries to the elders, proclaiming that genital cutting is now a thing of the past. After her demonstration, Ibrahima stands up to his father, says he is not going to listen to him, and despite his threats to disown him (which is quite foolish seeing how Ibrahima is the family's breadwinner) announces that he is going to marry Amasatou because he is proud of her. The end of the movie is the smoke of the burning radios, which speaks both to speaking out and repression of speech.

Cast

• Fatoumata Coulibaly as Collé Gallo Ardo Sy, the second wife who protects the girls from the female genital cutting.
• Maimouna Hélène Diarra as Hadjatou
• Salimata Traoré as Amasatou
• Dominique Zeïda as Mercenaire
• Mah Compaoré as Doyenne des Exciseuses
• Aminata Dao as Alima Bâ
• Stéphanie Nikiema as Mah
• Mamissa Sanogo as Oumy
• Rasmane Ouedraogo as Ciré Bathily
• Ousmane Konaté as Amath Bathily
• Bakaramoto Sanogo as Abdou
• Modibo Sangaré as Balla Bathily
• Joseph Traoré as Dugutigi
• Théophile Sowié as Ibrahima (as Moussa Théophile Sowié)
• Balla Habib Dembélé as Sacristain (as Habib Dembélé)
• Gustave Sorgho as Bakary
• Cheick Oumar Maiga as Kémo Tiékura
• Sory Ibrahima Koïta as Kémo Ansumana (as Ibrahima Sory Koita)
• Aly Sanon as Konaté
• Moussa Sanogo as Konaté fils
• Naky Sy Savane as Sanata (as Naki Sy Savane)
• Marie Yameogo as Exciseuse (as Marie Augustine Yameogo)
• Mabintou Baro as Exciseuse
• Tata Konaté as Exciseuse
• Fatoumata Sanogo as Exciseuse
• Madjara Konaté as Exciseuse
• Fatoumata Konaté as Exciseuse
• Fatoumata Sanou as Nafissatou
• Mariama Souabo as Jaatu
• Lala Drabo as Saaiba
• Georgette Paré as Niassi
• Assita Soura as Seymabou
• Alimatou Traoré as Binetou
• Edith Nana Kaboré as Ibatou
• Maminata Sanogo as Coumba
• Sanata Sanogo as La Reine mère
• Mafirma Sanogo as Fify

Reception

Accolades

Film critic Roger Ebert was a big supporter of the film, naming it one of his top ten of the year, and later adding it to his list of great movies.

In 2016, the film was ranked among the 100 greatest films since 2000 in an international critics poll by 177 critics around the world.^[12]

See also

• Cinema of Senegal

References

External links

• Moolaadé on IMDb
• Moolaadé at Rotten Tomatoes
• Moolaadé at Metacritic
• Moolaadé at AllMovie