There was a film in distribution four or five years ago that I believed was
set and filmed in rural Mali. I can't recall the title but the title was
the name of the film's main character who was believed to had been killed
for his outspoken political beliefs among other things. The story is told
through the recollections of different people who knew this character. As
they speak, their words are replaced by the actual scene unfolding. As the
story unfolds, the main character - heralded by those who liked him and
scorned by those who did not - continues to stir controversy in his death as
his body and the body of another become mixed up before burial. The mix-up
is not realized until after burial. No one is certain which body - one
Christian and one Islam - is in which grave. Though the movie is full of
great humor, the ensuing complications create heavy tensions between the
local Christians and the local adherents of Islam. Pre- Christian and
Pre-Islamic beliefs systems are also represented.
> Subject: West African Islam on Film: Query
> Comments: cc: h-afrlitcine@h-net.msu.edu
> To: Multiple recipients of list H-AFRICA <H-AFRICA@msu.edu>
>
> Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996
> From: Misty Bastian, Franklin and Marshall College
>
> I would appreciate hearing from our many experts *out there* on
> a film or, indeed, several films, that depict Islam in West
> Africa in interesting and challenging ways. A colleague here who
> has a more "traditional" Middle Eastern focus would like to show
> some film/video on Islam outside the Middle East in an upcoming
> course, and I couldn't immediately think of any film that I
> would recommend.
In-Reply-To: 199610290054.TAA12734@dag.XC.Org