XALA (1974, Senegal, 123 min.), directed by Ousmane Sembčne; screenplay by Sembčne from his own novel; cinematography by Georges Caristan, Orlando L. López, Seydina D. Saye, and Farba Seck; music by Samba Diabara Samb; with Thierno Leye (El Hadj Abdou Kaber Beye), Miriam Niang (Rama), Iliamane Sagna (Modu, the driver), Seune Samb (Adja Assatu, Beye's first wife), Douta Seck (Gorgui, wife #2), Dieynaba Niang (wife #3), Makhouredia Gueye (Minister Kebe); in Wolof and French with English subtitles.
Please answer three of the following questions at length (jot down discussion notes for the rest, also to hand in).
1. "Xala" means "the curse of impotence." As so often is the case, the film's title suggests the film's central preoccupation. Why, of all possible curses, was El Hadji Abdou Kader Beye struck with impotence? Why not cancer, or poison ivy, or an unfaithful wife? Discuss the significance of impotence in this film.
2. Discuss the setting of the film, its presentation of Dakar.
3.
The French have a saying,
"Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose (The more it changes, the more
it stays the same)." How does this expression apply to the changes we see
in
4. Sembene was a successful novelist before he made his first film in the early Sixties. He went into filmmaking for a simple reason: he had things to say to the general Senegalese public, which was largely illiterate. Movies seemed the most effective way to communicate these ideas. As a result, most of his films are adaptations of novels that he has written first.
The movie version of Xala follows the novel rather closely, but there are some interesting differences. One difference lies the the movie's far greater emphasis on humor, satire, and caricature, perhaps because these are effects that can easily be transmitted visually. Also, satire allows him to make a political point quickly, without the need for complicated analysis.
The best example of this effect are the scenes with the two "French advisors," who do not appear in the original novel. Why did Sembene choose to use them in the film? When else do they appear?
Do you notice any other ways in which humor and satire are conveyed visually?
5. Sembene reserves some of his best satirical touches for the wedding reception in the first part of the film. What does he have to say about the Senegalese nouveau riche in this scene? Give examples of details that you notice.
6. The story of El Hadji, despite its comic overtones, has the structure of a tragedy--it tells the story of the fall of a great man. Or is he a great man? Does El Hadji strike you as a tragic hero? Does he have a "tragic flaw"? What kind of power did he possess in the first place? Does he struggle frantically against his fate, or does he seem like a passive victim, a man caught up in a nightmare and unable to do anything about it?
7. El Hadji is a man with three wives, which in his culture makes him a man of importance. Sembene makes these three women very different from one another, as if each represents a different aspect of Senegalese culture, or at least a different type of woman. Discuss them in detail.
8. In a sense, much of Xala is a Whodunit: we find ourselves wondering, along with El Hadji, just who laid the curse on him and why. Whom does El Hadji suspect? Whom do the others around him suspect? Whom did you suspect?
9.
We see the crippled and deformed
beggars many times during the course of the film. El Hadji tries to get rid of
them, but they keep turning up, until their final triumph. In a sense, they are
like the "return of the repressed" that we saw as a feature of horror
films--that which one tries to forget about but never really can. What do the
beggars in Xala represent for a successful man like El Hadji or to a "successful"
country like
10. What do you think of Sembene's use of non-professional actors in this film?
11. Consider the use of music in the film. How does music help to set the mood and the tone at different points in the film? What do you notice?
12. Parallel to El Hadji's fall from greatness, we see the successful rise of a young man, who ultimately replaces El Hadji on the Chamber of Commerce. What role does this man play?
13. Discuss the role played by Rama, El Hadji's daughter by his first wife.
14. Xala ends on a particularly disgusting and unsettling note. What is the purpose of this ending? Do you see it as an exorcism of El Hadji's negative qualities, in which case it would have a positive, redemptive function? Or is it just pure punishment? Or both at the same time? What will El Hadji's future be like?
15. Although listed as a film in Wolof, nearly half the film consists of spoken French. As in most African countries, whose boundaries were creating according to the whims of the European colonial powers and not according to tribal or linguistic considerations, the national language of Senegal is French, and all official business and education occurs in that language. Some members of the younger generation, however, are claiming that true independence can only come with a return to native languages. Notice how El Hadji speaks French with his colleagues but Wolof with his wives. He speaks French with his daughter, but she responds in Wolof. What do you think of this use of language?
16. What would you say is the film's ultimate "message"? What is Sembčne trying to tell the Senegalese people in this film?
17. Does
the film have anything to say to us here in