For Criterion Consideration: Ousmane Sembene’s Mandabi

With regards to world cinema, few parts of this planet are as under-discussed and poorly supported by cinephiles as African cinema. While parts of the globe ranging from Romania to South Korea have become staples of the world cinema scene, the majority of the African continent has been relegated to the most studied of film nuts and those with access to either superb bootleg channels or well run arthouses. However, thankfully, this trend is beginning to change and with various critics and intellectuals stumping for African cinema as one of the world’s most diverse and entrancing film landscapes.

And with The Criterion Collection jumping into this world head first with their release of the seminal African picture Touki-Bouki as part of their World Cinema Foundation box set, it’s about time they take a look at one of the continent’s greatest filmmakers, and one of his greatest works.

Ousmane Sembene is to African cinema what a name like John Ford is to American film or Satyajit Ray is to Indian film. Arguably the father of modern African film, Sembene launched onto the film scene with his masterpiece, Black Girl, a breathtaking and unforgettable piece of cinema that looked directly at both colonialism and the post-colonial identity of his native Senegal. Now, these themes would crop up throughout Sembene’s legendary career, and most notably in one of his greatest and most underrated works, the subtle drama Mandabi.

Released just four years after Girl in 1968 (almost a decade prior to his third masterpiece, Xala), Mandabi is a picture near and dear to the intellectual heart of Sembene. Starting off his creative career as an author, Sembene was almost instantaneously interested in sparking deep social discussion and change, taking to cinema in order to reach a broader audience with more power. A passion project for Sembene, Mandabi would be his first film produced in his native Wolof language (which he’d write in once again with the above mentioned masterpiece in 1975), and is one of the more subtle, but enthralling pieces of work from the director’s legendary canon.

The film tells the story of Ibrahim, an unemployed man with two wives and a gang of children. His luck appears to change one day when a letter accompanying a money order arrives, sent by his nephew who is currently living in France. Worth 25,000 Francs, the money order is a blessing for Ibrahim and his family, as they are about at the end of their line, with his credit completely maxed out. However, things begin to go south as the illiterate Ibrahim begins to be taken advantage of by the intellectual elite, all while he tries so passionately to cash in the money order. A beautifully rendered meditation on colonialism and assimilation into a capitalist society, Mandabi is a true masterpiece for the legendary auteur, one of his absolute greatest pieces of work.

Sembene, aesthetically, is at the top of his game here. While not the most energetic or lively of filmmaker, Sembene is a master of cinematic observation. Quietly humane and purely humanistic, the film’s opening two acts are brazenly satirical, all thrown together with almost a British comedic structure of a man being sent from place to place with increasingly unwelcoming results. As the picture progresses Sembene’s view on bureaucracy becomes more and more clear, and more and more scathing, pushing the film into, in its final moments, pure political dissertation. Closing on a beat that may seem extremely blunt (and for all intents and purposes there is not a nose on this Earth that it wouldn’t hit directly), it’s the film’s logical conclusion, and a rather perfect final paragraph in what is as much a theoretical essay by Sembene as it is a real narrative picture. With brief bits about race, post-colonial identity and more interestingly religion (there is a bit involving our lead and his wives sleeping through community prayer that is a nice digression for the picture), Sembene’s script is dense and layered, a humanistic look at life in his native Senegal.

Again, aesthetically, the film is rather quiet. The camera is almost entirely static, with only a few flights of fancy, if you call slight camera moves or minute tricks flights of fancy (the most exciting trick here is Sembene’s use of framing, which punctuates one of the better scenes near the front end of the intimate picture). The performances here are superb as well. Makhouredia Gueye stars as Ibrahim, and gives a fantastic performance, His face is a perfect one for Sembene to play this tale off of, one that is sweet and inviting, yet just melancholy enough to let the emotion play out. HIs two wives are played by Yunus Ndlay and Isseau Niang, both giving a lot of depth to the picture, allowing the viewer to enter the film on more than an intellectual level. Again, a deeply humane piece of work, the film is a moving portrait of life in Senegal, and is definitively a piece of work from Sembene, through and through.

Sadly, as with most bits of African film, it’s nearly impossible to find on home video. A horrible looking print from the previous New Yorker DVD is currently available to stream on Netflix, but looks in haggard shape. A new transfer would most certainly be welcome, as would be a commentary from any number of intellectual voices who have been outspoken fans of Sembene’s work. Author/critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has been a rather vocal supporter of Sembene’s canon as an example of African political cinema, so he would be a welcome guest on a commentary track, or possibly a video piece from author Sada Niang, a voice on African Cinema who wrote this intriguing-sounding piece of literature. Throw in a look at Sembene’s career and you’ll have a Criterion Collection release that will not only be a must-own, but introduce an entire generation of film lovers to one of the greatest directors the world has ever known.