With multiple awards and exceptional critic reviews, Moolaadé has been cemented as possibly the greatest African film of the 21st century.
The film follows the story of Collé, a woman who causes massive conflict within her village by protecting a group of young girls from the horrific custom of female circumcision by invoking ‘moolaadé’ (magical protection) by hanging a colourful rope at the entrance of the residence she shares with her husband and his other wives.
Moolaadé was the last and most successful of the late Ousmane Sembène’s incredible career. The Senegalese director had already established himself in the film industry and gained international recognition with films like Xala, Faat Kiné and Guelwaar, all of which received positive reviews upon release. However, Moolaadé was undoubtably his greatest film, receiving various coveted awards including the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, Best Foreign Language Film at the National Society of Film Critic’s Awards, and the Jury Award at Pan-African Film Festival.
The film also received acclaim from some of the top critics in the film industry:
"For me the best film at Cannes 2004, a story vibrating with urgency and life. It makes a powerful statement and at the same time contains humour, charm and astonishing visual beauty." – Roger Ebert
"To skip Moolaadé would be to miss an opportunity to experience the embracing, affirming, world-changing potential of humanist cinema at its finest." – Dana Stevens of The New York Times
“This powerful movie addresses female mutilation as both a cruel practice to be abolished and as a metaphor for the traditional subjugation of women in a society dominated by self-regarding men who stand idly by as their wives do most of the work, the thinking and the child rearing.” – Philip French of The Guardian
What makes the message of this eye-opening film even stronger is that Fatoumata Coulibaly, the lead actress of the film, was a victim of the practice herself. Her passionate performance won her the Best Actress award at the Cinemanila International Film Festival in 2005. Coulibaly also continued to campaign against the custom after the film premiered and her efforts were documented for the film Africa on the Move: The Power of Song.
Watch the multi-award-winning film on our official webpage.
