X
- 1970
- Not Rated
- Grove Press
- 1 h 32 m
- 1970
- Not Rated
- Grove Press
- 1 h 32 m
Summary 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.
Directed By: Ousmane Sembene
Written By: Ousmane Sembene
- 1970
- Not Rated
- Grove Press
- 1 h 32 m
- 1970
- Not Rated
- Grove Press
- 1 h 32 m
Mandabi
73
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch
Summary 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.
Directed By: Ousmane Sembene
Written By: Ousmane Sembene
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
73
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
73
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sembène looks ruefully yet tenderly at the ruses and wiles of the poor, whose desperate struggles—with the authorities and with one another—distract them from political revolt.
As a comedy dealing with life's miseries, it displays a controlled sophistication in the telling that gives it a feeling of almost classic directness and simplicity.
Mandabi features an excellent performance from Guèye, who is innocent and culpable all at once. This is gentle, walking-pace cinema that leads us by the hand from vignette to vignette, from scene to scene, presented to us with ingenuous simplicity and calm.
Sembène achieves this balance of tone with a mix of absurd and biting dialogue and a modest mise en scène.
A keen satire, MANDABI is not only Sembene's first comedy and first film in color, but also his first in Wolof, the language spoken by most Senegalese people. Its critique of a postcolonial state is much more narrowly focused than those of his earlier short films, and, as the first Senegalese film to be distributed commercially in Senegal, it more than got its point across.
This wryly mordant film achieved many firsts for the illustrious father of African cinema.
Honest but stupid. [19 Mar 1970, p.54]
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