Xala

The Senegalese author and film maker Ousmane Sembene is often credited with the title of the Father of African film. "Xala" (The Curse, 1975) is a comic social satire based on his own novel. Its protagonist, El Hadji, is a politician, a member of the first independent government of his country. Despite the new-found independence, the new government does most thinks in the usual western way, starting from their preference of the French language over the native Wolof tongue, to the exploitation of political power to personal ends; and El Hadji is no exception. On the day he marries his third wife however, he becomes impotent due to a curse, and desperately starts to look for a solution. He is even willing to see a "marabout" (a wise man), something he would have previously thought superstitious and ridiculous. During the process he gets closer to his African roots, but alienates his fellow politicians...