Faat Kiné
Director: Ousmane Sembène
Year Released: 2000
Rating: 1.0
Single mother Faat Kiné (Venus Seye) is doing well for herself as the manager of a gas station/auto repair center in Dakar and her two children, Djip (Ndiagne Dia) and Aby (Mariama Balde), received high scores on their Baccalaureate exams ... but people she has no desire to see keep popping up in her life and her kids wants her to get married. I admit it feels a bit strange for Sembène to set this in "modern Senegal" (there's even a television program on that shows a robotic hand!) considering most of his films have focused on the lives of poor individuals, and while the praise of strong females is evident ("Today's women are men's pillars"), this is severely lacking in dramatic tension, as Kiné is so self-confident nothing truly fazes her. It mostly tries for sitcom-esque situation comedy, which isn't the best move (some viewers claim to have found parts humorous, but I didn't) ... and then there's the "big confrontation" near the conclusion where Djip barks at his biological father (who's a former convict), suggesting the "old guard" has been vanquished and times they are a-changin'. However, twenty-four years later, I'm not so sure that's what is actually happening....