Mandabi

With Mandabi (“The Money Order”), a comedy of daily life and corruption in Dakar, Sembène in 1968 made the revolutionary decision to film in the Wolof language. His masterpiece, Ceddo (1977; “Outsiders”), an ambitious, panoramic account of aspects of African religions, was also in Wolof and…

Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi (1968; “The Money Order”), about a traditional man confronting modern ways, and Burkinabé director Gaston Kaboré’s Wend Kuuni (1983; “God’s Gift”), about a mute boy who regains his speech after viewing a tragedy, characterize the second phase. In the third phase, combative films, such…