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The opening coup that gives the Chamber of Commerce the heave-ho is by way of Downey's Putney Swope, meet the new boss same as the old boss, a most concise snapshot of Senegal's sham independence. Suitcases of cash and limos for the committee members who promise "socialism on man's level," among them the food merchant (Thierno Leye) who celebrates by getting himself a third wife. At the unwieldy wedding party guests schmooze while the "Star Band de Dakar" drones on, in a corner matriarchal Wife Number One (Seune Samb) and bewigged Wife Number Two (Younouss Seye) share an awkward Coke. The young bride (Dieynaba Niang) is still a virgin on the following day, the curse of impotence has left the husband "crumpled like wet paper," power in neocolonial times is fickle like that. "Modernity mustn't make us lose our Africanity," Ousmane Sembène at his most sardonic dismantles the pose for the heart of cultural denial. The flaccid ninny suspended between Europe and Africa, insisting on speaking French and sipping imported water and treating polygamy like a right, scrambling from witch doctor to witch doctor for a cure to a malaise more moral than carnal. Empty barrels at the storehouse, the ribbon-wrapped Mercedes that won't be driven. The teenage daughter (Myriam Niang) embodies a sliver of rebellious hope amid corruption and greed, more typical however is the coalition of businessmen blithely replacing one indiscreet colleague with a street hustler in cowboy hat, "all crabs in the same basket." The fall is swift and merciless, with Buñuel's Viridiana figuring in the Return of the Oppressed knocking at the front door—a matter of "precious bodily fluids," as General Ripper would have it. With Fatim Diagne, Iliamane Sagna, Dieynaba Niang, Makhouredia Gueye, Abdoulaye Seck, and Douta Seck.
--- Fernando F. Croce |