2022 Directed by Moussa Sène Absa
Awa, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, is happily living her teenage years alongside her twin brother Adama who dreams of Europe. When their grandmother dies, her aunt Fatou and her uncle Atoumane promise to marry in order to preserve the family union. But Fatou does not love Atoumane and the latter, tired of waiting to consummate his marriage, commits an act from which there is no going back.
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UK
LFF 2022 #1
I've recently moved out of London so suuuuper happy to be back at LFF for a weekend. Even if this film sucked I would've had a great time, last year was so special I love the festival so much.
Xalé is a super interesting film though, a rough but unapologetically vibrant mish-mash collage depicting the highs and lows of Dakar life, unafraid to jam the two together, viewed through the eyes of Awa, played unforgettably by Nguissaly Barry. The central narrative thread of the film is sincere and heavy, tackling the rape-revenge trope in what I think is the least exploitative and most respectful way physically possible, striving for catharsis and never turning pain into spectacle. I'm…
Beautiful film and one of the notable works of African cinema, since the wave of Burkinabé movies in the 1980s and 1990s.
An interesting and enticing mix of social realism and rape revenge film, mixed with a more oral storytelling tradition. Male and female choruses break into and often intervene in the action. As well as writing and directing, Moussa Sène Absa created all the songs in the film.
There's a sub-plot that follows a young man saving to join a migrant boat to France, to make his fortune in Paris. Rather than make this a tragedy as in Mati Diop's Atlantics, there's the mundane reality of surviving the trip only to find that there is no fortune to be made.
As temáticas femininas não são novidade no trabalho de Moussa Sène Absa, na verdade, Xalé é o terceiro filme de sua trilogia sobre mulheres, que passa por Tableau Ferraille (1997) e Madame Brouette (2002). O longa que fecha essa série foi o escolhido para representar o Senegal no Oscar de 2023, ainda que poucas pessoas pareçam conhecer a obra do diretor, e também foi seu primeiro trabalho com uma equipe totalmente local, sem usar pessoas de outros países como a França, por exemplo. Em Xalé, Moussa Sène Absa traz muito de si mesmo e das tradições do Senegal para criar uma tragédia grega com suas próprias referências. O destino é anunciado, o prenúncio que ocorre na abertura já pontua o…
moussa hugged me after the screening and i almost started to cry (again). this was so beautiful. so so beautiful. he depicts femininity with such power and tenderness. he’s also so careful and sensitive (while still being intentional) in his portrait of abuse and overall tragedy, it’s refreshing to see.
african-rooted religions have a fundamental relationship with music and the way he gives life to this here is just… magical. i felt protected and hugged, even before he hugged me.
Moussa Sène Absa se utiliza muito bem dessa estética que remete à tradição oral, com um toque de musical/fantasia, para fazer de Xalé uma tragédia de vingança que consegue manter uma unidade mesmo se movendo entre muitos tons e personagens. Curioso para ver mais filmes do diretor
I love that Absa starts his movies with the end of the story, and when asked about this technique he said that Africans do not tell stories linearly, but rather they “prepare the soul to accept the narration.” What a way to kick off the first night of the New York African Film Festival!
Wow! This film really grew on me as I was watching it and in thinking about it after. Very much soapy/telenovelly energy but it really works. I involuntarily gasped and ooed at all the predictable plot points. While there are a few awkward scriptwriting moments, especially in how characters are introduced and fade out of the story, I think they are entirely forgivable. We had the privilege to have Absa speak on the film after, he spoke of how he always writes the songs in his films before connecting the plot points. I think this is where the occasionally narrative kink comes from but it’s so ballsy and unique. In each of the pivotal emotional scenes, a choir of elders with resolute morals guide our players’ consciouses through song. Fresh movie
It’s a bit televisual, and the acting is… variable, but Xalé does have something; I didn’t think I was all that into it, but when I paused it half way through to go get a drink, I did find myself unexpectedly eager to return. The Greek chorus scenes really grew on me.
I do wish it hadn’t opened with the culmination though - it just completely leeched any suspense from the final twenty minutes.
This was a fabulous film. Such a privilege also to have the director, Moussa Sene Absa, at the LFF screening and at the Q and A afterwards, which was sadly far too short! There was so much I wanted to ask..
Loved the fact that the film started with the end, something that the director did comment on in the Q and A. He loves to start his stories with the end, with the narrative then unfolding to explain the events leading up to it.
Great also to see a Senegalese film that was made entirely by a Senegalese film crew.
Would love to know what local language the characters were all speaking. Didn’t get a chance to ask Moussa. Interesting of course that in school the teachers all spoke French.
