Xala

Name: Xala
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: October 1, 1975
Duration: 123 min
Rating: 80
Cast: Dieynaba Niang, Farba Sarr, Fatim Diagne, Iliamane Sagna, Langouste Drobe

1975

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Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

New Yorker Films | Release Date: October 1, 1975

Starring: Dieynaba Niang, Farba Sarr, Fatim Diagne, Iliamane Sagna, Langouste Drobe, Mustapha Ture, Myriam Niang, Seune Samb, Thierno Leye, Younouss Seye

Summary: A corrupt politician is cursed with impotence on the night of his third wedding after embezzling 100 tons of rice.

Director: Ousmane Sembene

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy

Runtime: 123 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Ed Gonzalez

Widely regarded as Ousmane Sembène’s finest achievement, Xala is a cutting morality tale that equally blames the corruption of Senegal’s sociopolitical environment on Euro-centricity and African auto-destruction. Read full review

100

Empire David Parkinson

This is not just a treatise on post-colonialism and class. Sembène boldly uses his female characters to comment on Senegal's chauvinist patriarchy. Read full review

Richard Eder

It is part fable and part satire, but it is much more: with the greatest fineness and delicacy, Mr. Sembene, the Senegalese writer and director who made this picture, has set out a portrait of the complex and conflicting mesh of traditions, aspirations and frustrations of a culture knocked askew by colonialism and distorting itself anew while climbing out. Read full review

Screen Rant Hannah Johnson

Xala fictionalizes the key years of post-independence in Africa. It is a story of choice: of the different paths Africa could take on its road to the future. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The jokes and details are delightful, yet there's real anger behind them, and it bursts spectacularly into view in the concluding frames. Read full review

The Guardian Derek Malcolm

Xala means sexual impotence, and the film, culled from his own novel, is a brilliantly funny, ironic satire about post-colonial Senegal. [21 Dec 2000, p.13]

Gary Arnold

The major problem with the film is that the exposition is not nearly as clever as the premise. After warming to the idea behind the movie, one tends to cool off as it trudges toward a resolution. Read full review

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