Savage African Satire screens Fri at Film Night

Fri Aug 31 at 7:30 pm
The Depot at Johnson House,
    Higgins-Purissima Road, Half Moon Bay
$6:00

Feature: XALA  (123 mins)
    French/Wolof w. English subtitles.

On Friday Aug 31 the Coastside Film Society will screen Ousmane Sembene’s savage and hilarious satire of the modern African bourgeoisie. Forsaking the more obvious (and politically acceptable) targets of European exploitation and racism, Sembene zeroes in on a far touchier subject: the entire blackfacing of white colonial policies after independence was granted.

Set in a newly independent Senegal, the story centers on self-satisfied, westernized Senegalese businessman who decides to take advantage of the rampant corruption in his country. He mines government accounts to come up with the funds he needs to marry his third (polygamous) wife.  His existing wives are less than enthusiastic. On his wedding night, he is suddenly struck down with the xala, an ancient Senegalese curse rendering him impotent. 

With his virility in question he embarks upon a campaign to find a cure. The attempted cures become increasingly ridiculous and bizarre leaving shamed and humiliated with a plummeting social stature.  This vain search for a cure becomes a metaphor for the impossibility of Africans ever achieving liberation through dependence on western technology and bureaucratic structures.

JENNY LAU, Associate Professor of Cinema at San Franciso State University will introduce the film and lead post screening discussion.

For more information and a streaming clip see Coastside Film Society.