In a remote African village, six girls, all between the ages of four and nine, are selected for female circumcision, a crude operation that is at best an agonising torture and has often proven lethal. Two of the girls drown themselves in a well to escape their fate; the other four throw themselves on the mercy of Colle (Coulibaly), a woman who seven years earlier refused to allow her daughter be circumcised by invoking a 'magical protection' ('moolaade'); Colle defies the villagers' demands but the price of her rebellion is a debt that must be repaid in blood. Widely regarded as Africa's finest filmmaker, Ousmane Sembene (who also wrote the script) has created a portrait of a culture that unflinchingly records its specific horrors and barbarities. By the same token it can also be read as a narrative about the clash of past and future in any culture, the struggle of women to survive in a primitive patriarchal society, and what happens when the polar opposites of liberal thought and action collide with repressive and conservative dogma. Wonderful performances are the least of it (many of the characters here are played by non-professional actors); while the raw material could in the wrong hands have been converted into hysterical melodrama, Sembene brings a cool, authoritative tone to the story that imbues it with a magisterial dignity. He has also created a visual feast, and Moolaade is a triumph of style married with substance; for all that the subject matter is revolting to Western eyes, the very fact that this film was made is a matter for celebration and hope.
