Dr. Samba Gadjigo
The Making of Moolaadé
Moolaadé is one of the most haunting and powerful, of Ousmane Sembene’s features, set in a small African village the film is one of what was envisioned as a trilogy dealing with what the filmmaker called the “Hero-isme au quatidien”, the heroism of everyday life focusing specifi cally on the role of women in Senegalese society. e fi rst of the trilogy Faat Kine (2000) dealt with the struggles of an urban businesswoman in the male dominated world of Aff airs in postcolonial Senegal. The second Moolaadétreats the everyday life of a small village community in which the common practice of female circumcision is thrown into disarray when four young girls of the village request sanctuary from Colle Ardo Gallo Sy, a women who has saved her own daughter from ritual cutting. Village traditionalists both male and female challenge the protest but the custom of Moolaadé (sanctuary) cannot be broken without risking serious mystical repercussions. is polemical fi lm challenges the practice of female circumcision while unfolding one of the richest portraits of everyday African village life on film to date.10/24/2007
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