Mandabi
≈ 2 min read
Names in other languages
No names in other languages are held for this entry yet.
Article bodies are English and are not machine-translated. A name in another language is not a translation of the article.
Mandabi (French: Le Mandat, "The Money Order") is a 1968 film written and directed by Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. The film is based on Sembène's francophone novel The Money-Order and it is the first feature film in the Wolof language, Sembène's native tongue, and the first feature-length film in an African language. Since most of the Senegalese population at the time did not understand French, Sembène wanted to create cinema for Wolof speakers.
Mandabi (French: Le Mandat, "The Money Order") is a 1968 film written and directed by Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. The film is based on Sembène's francophone novel The Money-Order and it is the first feature film in the Wolof language, Sembène's native tongue, and the first feature-length film in an African language. Since most of the Senegalese population at the time did not understand French, Sembène wanted to create cinema for Wolof speakers.
Plot
An illiterate, unemployed, middle-aged, Wolof-speaking Muslim man, Ibrahima Dieng, lives with his two wives and seven children in Dakar. His nephew, Abdou, sends him a money order from Paris worth 25,000 francs, which he has saved from working as a street sweeper. Ibrahima is to keep some of the money for himself, save a portion for his nephew, and give a portion to his sister, Abdou's mother. However, Ibrahima faces numerous difficulties trying to obtain the money order. Not having an ID, Ibrahima must go through several levels of modern, post-colonial Senegalese bureaucracy to try to get one, only to fail after spending money he does not have. Meanwhile, neighbors come over asking for money and Ibrahima is further indebted. In the end, he is swindled by Mbaye, his unscrupulous nephew, who promised to cash the money order for him, but steals the money, saying that he was pickpocketed. The film leaves Ibrahima in debt. The film explores themes of neocolonialism, religion, corruption, and relationships in Senegalese society.
Accolades
29th Venice International Film Festival 1968: Special Jury Prize Soviet Directors Prize from the 1968 Tashkent Film Festival of African and Asian Cinema
See also
Cinema of Senegal
References
External links
Mandabi: Paper Trail an essay by Tiana Reid at the Criterion Collection
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1342486692 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.