1968 Directed by Ousmane Sembène
A money order from a relative in Paris throws the life of a Senegalese family man out of order. He deals with corruption, greed, problematic family members, the locals and the changing from his traditional way of living to a more modern one.
The Money Order, Die Postanweisung, 우편환, Le Mandat
cinema in africa has developed in the context of the fierce struggles of the colonizer and the colonized and their aftermaths in the postcolonial era. these struggles and their consequences have affected our peoples at the economic, political, cultural and psychological levels, at the levels of communal representation and images of the self. so the question of african cinema is not only that of relations of wealth and power but also of the psyche. decolonization of the mental space must go hand in hand with that of the economic and political space—only the penniless deny the pleasure gained from money; money has no roots, but it grows in our hearts. for ousmane sembène, the question of political liberty is inseparable…
Kafka has his bureaucratic struggles, African edition. there, at least he has good food occasionally and can immerse in his digesting processes.
Sembene’s tightest, most focused film. Just one of the most convincing, withering and entertaining films I’ve seen about the incompatibility of capitalism and the human ego. And with one of the most horrendously, laughably self-important lead characters ever - which makes monitoring his downfall all the more delicious. And yet, despite the all-encompassing bile tsunami, the film, like all good comedies, segues into tragedy by its final reel, with humanity slumped on the floor, penniless, clueless and dazed. From what I’ve seen it might be Sembene’s best, most complete film (though would say the thrillingly wild Moolaadé is still my favourite).
"I'm the husband here! Only I can decide what to do!"
In his second feature, Ousmane Sembène created this vision of a poverty ridden 60s Senegal, where penniless Ibrahima receives an unexpected gift from a distant relative. In a land burnt by colonialism and with corruption at every turn, Ibrahima struggles to get his hands on the cash while those all around him have their hands out for a piece of his windfall.
Starkly real, often funny and packed with confronting cultural honesty, Mandabi is a great example of the Director's style and of Senegalese cinema done right.
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March around the world 2022 - Senegal 🇸🇳
The Criterion Challenge 2022 - 28. Made in Senegal
The film is set in Senegal, however, almost everyone around the globe can watch this film and sense this familiarity between the events the protagonist goes through. Burocracy, greed, an overall sense of corruption is what comes to mind throughout the film. A lack of kindness also, when we stray away from the bigger themes of the film.
Ibrahim Dieng receives a letter informing him he has received a large sum of money from his nephew. He must go to the big city to collect this sum, however, he has no documents confirming his identity. From this small detail we go through a downward spiral together with the protagonist. The critique is not only against capitalism (not actually capitalism but…
Watched on Criterion.
Following on from his debut Black Girl, Ousmane Sembène takes it back to his roots with his follow-up. Mandabi takes place entirely in Dakar, Senegal, and follows unemployed Muslim man Ibrahima as he tries to cash a generous money order sent to him from his nephew working in France. Ibrahima and his two wives are struggling to stay afloat, and with the difficulty he finds in obtaining the money, and constant handouts to friends and neighbours, their future looks far from secure.
With Black Girl, Sembène displayed an innate ability to capture the mood of a people and a time. He does the same again here, looking at the regular people living in a rapidly evolving Senegal.…
Mandabi is all about what you can buy and what you can’t buy. How money changes what’s possible or at least what you perceive to be possible.
Ousmane Sembène tells a story about a man whose incidental luck ends up sending him down a path of sorrow and deceit.
When Ibrahim (Makhouredia Gueye) tries to cash in his money order, he runs into people in need of money or people trying to get a cut of the sum.
“This that’s how things are these days, nobody can be trusted”
Ibrahim constantly runs into bureaucratic and human obstacles, keeping him from obtaining his goal. Needing to rely on other people to get what he proves futile, however, without the help of others he gets nothing.
“To tell you the truth, decency has become a sin in this country. And that's why I'm going to become a wolf among wolves”
Slightly disappointing, considering how much I enjoyed his previous feature, La Noire De..., Ousmane Sembène's Mandabi, although continuing with the theme of neocolonialism, tends to drag in spite of its short runtime and without satire that bites hard enough. A good 'ol stab at bureaucratic runarounds, where corruption and greed are coming at you from every angle. The irony is bitter and the commentary sharp, but after a while, it starts to get slightly repetitive. Having said all that, Mandabi is still a noteworthy milestone of African cinema – the first full-length film from West Africa in an African language – and also does a really good job of infuriating its audience.
100 FILMS IN ONE SUMMER 2022 - FILM #84
Two years ago, I watched my first Senegalese film, Black Girl, and I've been meaning to see more from its director, Ousmane Sembène, ever since. I remember hearing good things about his movie Moolaadé at some point, but I thought that the most logical next step to take with his filmography would be to see his sophomore effort, Mandabi. As someone who thought that Black Girl was a terrific movie, I honestly had no idea I was going to love Mandabi as much as I did. Mandabi starts out as a film about the self-important and unemployed Ibrahima trying to cash in the titular money order, but it quickly expands into…
“To tell you the truth, decency has become a sin in this country. And that's why I'm going to become a wolf among wolves! I too will become a thief and a liar!”
Human greed really is universal.
My second Ousmane Sembène movie, a lot less depressing and cynical than the first one, at least on surface level. Mandabi is able to show the effects of colonialism through a satirical but simple premise that tells a larger grander story than what it seems like at first, This movie explores cause and effect, and the corruption through greed and Sembène is able to do a lot with his vision and direction that many directors could only dream off.
The movie is…
This film is a dark but funny satire featuring a Senegalese man's attempts to cash in a money order that belabors its point just a bit too much and gets a little too on-the-nose in the end. It doesn't have Xala's better grasp on symbolism, instead focusing on more direct situations to comment on the corruption and woes of Senegalese life.
Honestly, there's heart here. Ibrahim spends a lot of time giving to others in need, trusting those he probably shouldn't, and striving to make things right (even if his tendency toward mistreating his wives pissed my mother off). If that had been the focus, I'd be much more pleased. Instead, the film gets darker and darker and ends in a manner that did not satisfy.
December count: 77/100.
