Xala
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Â Makhouredia Gueye Fatim DiagneDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language); Wolof (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 123 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-31
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: New Yorker
DVD Reviews of Xala
DVD Review: Skewering of the Senegalese "businessman"
Summary: 4 Stars
This 1974 gem, by multi-talented filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, is a brutal attack on the enthusiastic appropriation by the Senegalese upper class of French colonialist culture and its dire consequences. Sembene not only wrote and directed the film; he also wrote the novel on which the film was based.
In it, El Hadji, the protagonist, is one of a number of the business and political elite of Dakar (capital of Senegal) who, at the film's opening, accepts a briefcase full of payoff money from the French, presumably to "encourage" continued French business development in the country after Senegal has won its independence. But while spouting homilites attesting to Senegal's independence as a true African state, these members of the elite speak in nothing but French and look down their noses at those who speak Wolof, the native language. Even, in El Hadji's case, his daughter from his first marriage.
He also decries the beggars in the streets, some of whom are disturbingly affected with serious malnutrition and physical conditions like spina bifida, and one of whom, as it turns out, is a relative of El Hadji's. The latter weds his third wife, much younger than he, but is then struck with the eponymous condition of the title, the xala, which is a curse rendering him impotent.
His second wife is furiously jealous of his third. His first wife is more patient. But perhaps the most vituperative of all his enemies are ultimately his "fellow" bribees, who, in one brilliant scene, attack him for his actions that are careless enough to prevent the others in this group from being able to reap more bribes and other corrupt sources of income. He lashes back at them with how tainted they all are, including him, and then suffers the consequences.
The ending of the film is the most brutal of all scenes in the film and will not be revealed here; it's stomach-churning. Along the way, El Hadji visits two different marabouts (Senegalese shamans) in an attempt to rid himself of the xala, and has as well a number of encounters with the various members of his family--wives, sons, daughters.
As noted in another review of this film on this website, Sembene likely saw and absorbed the films of Luis Bunuel; there's a similarity of jet black humor in the tone of the film redolent of the great Spanish filmmaker. Sembene beautifully captures Senegalese culture in all its aspects--from the ultra-snobby rich to the desperate poor, and a couple of layers in-between as well.
This is a great African film; definitely recommended.
Description of Xala
This savagely funny satire portrays El Hadji, a prosperous, self-satisfied, politically crooked modern businessman who is struck down by the xala (pronounced "ha-la") - a curse rendering its victim impotent. While he chases after witch doctors and soothsayers on a frantic, often hilarious search for a cure, his impotence becomes a mirror of the powerlessness of young African nations over dependent on white technology.Unable to consummate his third (polygamous) marriage, and neglecting his business affairs and political activities as he seeks a cure, his social stature is stripped away, leaving him shamed and humiliated. And while humorous, there is a sympathy in his downfall at the hands of others who are even more corrupt than he is.
XALA is a moving and comical look at a man caught up in the corruption of his country and the tribulations of a changing society.
Wealthy businessman and community leader El Hadji (Thierno Leye) has been known to take a bribe on occasion. He has two wives and has just taken a (much younger) third, when he succumbs to a xala, or curse, and is unable to consummate the marriage. In his search for a cure, Hadji first loses his standing, then his fortune. Even his wives start to abandon him. He has become impotent in every sense of the word. Based on his novel of the same name, Ousmane Sembene?s fourth film is unsparing in its critique of Senegalese men, like Hadji, who claim to be enemies of colonialism and defenders of "Africanity," yet insist on speaking French, consume only imported goods, and view the less fortunate as "human rubbish." As with Luis Buñuel before him, Sembene (Moolaadé) finds the "charm of the bourgeoisie" to be very "discreet" indeed in this devastating dark comedy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Vidas SecasRelease date: 2006-01-10; DVD
Best price: $29.95
Touki BoukiKino International; Release date: 2005-09-06; DVD
Best price: $15.92
Price in other shops:
Faat KinéRelease date: 2009-09-04; DVD
Best price: $24.95
Last Supper, TheRelease date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $29.95
ChocolatSony; Release date: 2001-07-24; DVD
Best price: $3.87
Price in other shops:
BamakoRelease date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $29.95
MandabiRelease date: 2005-05-31; DVD
Best price: $29.95
Black Girl/ Borom SarretRelease date: 2005-11-22; DVD
Best price: $29.95
Camp de ThiaroyeRelease date: 2008-11-11; DVD
Best price: $29.95
MoolaadéRelease date: 2007-12-11; DVD
Best price: $29.95