Xala is a Wolof word for sexual impotence, but it might just as well mean
political impotence in Senegalese director Ousmane Sembenes view. This
1975 film is a scathing satire on his nations elite personified by the
sexual failure of his main character, a corrupt middle-aged businessman who
cant get it up for his brand-new third wife, who is younger than the
daughter of his first marriage, on their wedding night.
Xala lays bare all of Senegals class inequality, a built on the bogus
principles of a African Socialism and the heavy-handed rule of
Negritude poet Leopold Senghor, whose name is not mentioned once in the
film but whose troubled legacy clearly disgusts the Marxist Sembene.
Before the films credits roll across the screen, Sembene establishes the
underlying premise. On the day of national independence, the French and the
local bourgeoisie are sitting opposite each other around a conference table
in the capitol building in Dakar. After the Blacks make a few statements
about how a new day of African socialism is dawning, the French push
attaché cases filled across the table filled with cash.
full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2006/08/26/xala/
