Xala
Directed by Ousmane Sembene, Senegal, 1974. 123 minutes

Source: New Yorker Films

A ferocious political satire, Xala examines the foibles of the African bourgeoisie in newly-independent countries. After a hilarious beginning, in which the new African leaders are shown capitulating de facto to neo-colonialism, we follow the amorous endeavors of El Hadji Abdoukader Beye, a prosperous businessman with two wives, El Hadj is about to marry his third. During his wedding night, however, El Hadji is the object of a xala, a curse rendering him impotent. His efforts to rid himself of the xala introduces him to a hoard of crippled beggars and homeless peasants, the very kind of people his profiteering has dispossessed. It is only through a painful ritual humiliation that El Hadji can hope to be reborn and regain his virility.

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