S. Pierre Yameogo (Léve-toi et marche, Burkina Faso/France/Switzerland 2005)

A rural and seemingly idyllic village in Burkina Faso is hit with a mysterious epidemic that is killing its children. The culprit, according to the men of the village, is a “soul eater”—a woman employing witchcraft. Though the French-language radio reports that a meningitis outbreak is responsible, no one in the village understands French, and Burkina Faso is a country where such ancestral customs are not only still treated as the rule of law but also as a patriarchal tool to punish the powerless. Village elder Diarrha, whose teenaged daughter Pougbila has recently been raped and hastily married off to a man in another village, duplicitously sets up his own wife Napoko as the soul eater, and exiles her to a life wandering the dusty roads of Burkina Faso. Like Cheick Oumar Sissoko’s Finzan (SFIFF 1990) and Ousmane Sembene’s Moolaadé, Delwende (the name of one of the shelters for accused witches) is a fiercely feminist critique of post-colonial Africa and its adherence to outmoded beliefs and patriarchal injustice. It’s also a vibrantly photographed and rousing tale of a woman’s courage that is sure to inspire.

Written by S. Pierre Yameogo. Photographed by Jürg Hassler. With Blandine Yaméogo, Claire Ilboudo, Célestin Zongo, Daniel Kabore. (90 min. In Moor and French with English subtitles. New Yorker Films)

October 31–November 6, Sundance Kabuki Cinemas