Xala

while xala isn't as great of an achievement in direction, it definitely holds up within its text.

xala is a demonstration on the link between people in power, their culture and the line that eventually begins to blur between them and their colonizers. a line but also conversation that stood out to me was "why do you answer in wolof when im speaking french to you" and that line display a disconnect between the main character and his culture.
there is no say on if HATES his culture but there is a conversation to be had (which of there are many in this film) about the relationship between the colonized and colonizers when in the context of power but also the continue'd suffer but also colonization of africa ingeneral. im not an expert on african history or even the modern climate besides thats its as bad as ever, exploitation is rooted in its history and the washing of culture as well and ousmane sembéne shows us how the african men (but also just people in a position of political power) care as much as the ones they shoved out of the office in the beginning of the film. the film opens with a revolution but was it really a revolution or was it just a way for the egotistical people of the country of origin to pick up the pieces of the french?

ousmane sembéne is such a great writer and i wanna take my time with his filmography because so far its nothing short of incredible. we SHOULD be talking about him in the same vein as akira kurosawa or ingmar bergman because there are many layers to his work to be peeled one by one and examined. i do think in part that ingeneral black cinema is just really a blind spot for so many people besides like, jordan peele and the fact that, japan has a lot of work and culture in films which is so large where its not a mystery but african cinema, thats something thats not allowed to shine both in viewcount and spectators but also just the process of films being made.

(watch my feature film kodak: https://boxd.it/dNvKo1 )