Xala
Synopsis
In post-independence Dakar, an arrogant, corrupt Senegalese government minister serving on the National Chamber of Commerce takes a third, eighteen-year-old trophy wife to flaunt his newfound bourgeois Europeanized wealth, only to find himself struck on his wedding night with the 'xala'—a temporary curse of sexual impotence, desperately consulting marabouts and witch doctors while bankrupting his businesses, discovering the curse was placed by an impoverished beggar he robbed. Ousmane Sembène's biting, satirical masterpiece dissecting neocolonial African comprador elites culminating in a ritual spitting purification.
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Xala
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Ousmane Sembène
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