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| Thierno Leye and Dyella Touré in Xala |
Xala is a sharp-edged, often very funny satire on the failings of postcolonial Africa, namely, the adoption of European ways to the neglect of traditional African culture. The result is a kind of impotence, which is what the title means, and which manifests itself not only in the sexual dysfunction experienced by El Hadj Aboucader Beye (Thierno Leye) on the night of his wedding to his third wife but also in the dysfunctional business and political world to which El Hadj belongs. His first wife, Adja (Seune Samb), and his second, Oumi (Younouss Seye), are very much alive and present to kibitz at the wedding reception. Adja sticks to traditional garb, while Oumi adopts European dress, so they represent two polarities in El Hadj's life and culture. He also has a daughter by Adja, Rama (Myriam Niang), who is sharply critical of his Westernized ways: When he offers her a glass of water and pours it from an Evian bottle, she snaps that she doesn't drink imported water. (Evian becomes another symbol of his European ways, when we see his chauffeur use a bottle of it to wash El Hadj's Mercedes and another to fill up the radiator.) Rama also refuses to speak anything but Wolof to El Hadj, even though he replies in French. The film deals largely with El Hadj's attempts to cure his sexual dysfunction, which leads him eventually to the holy man of his chauffeur's village, who temporarily cures him, but then exacts a revenge when El Hadj's check bounces, teaching him a lesson about ignoring the people of his country while kowtowing to the Europeans. Xala is a keenly observant movie, sometimes to the point of discomfort, and though its two-hour run time is a little slackly paced and the acting sometimes not all you could wish, it makes its point effectively.
