Underplayed Gems

Xala (1975)

Xala poster
Directed by
Ousmane Sembène
Genre
satirical film
Country
Senegal
Runtime
1h 30m
Rating
6.9 of 10 from 44 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A wealthy Senegalese businessman marries a third wife and is struck by a curse of impotence. His efforts to find a cure expose the hypocrisy and corruption of the country's elite.

satiricalabsurdheavycriticalwryuncomfortabledeliberateprovocative

What happens

Xala (pronounced [ˈxɐlɐ], Wolof for "temporary sexual impotence") is a 1975 Senegalese satirical comedy film written and directed by Ousmane Sembène, an adaptation of Sembène's 1973 novel of the same name. It stars Thierno Leye, Seune Samb, Douta Seck, Younousse Sèye, Fatim Diagne, and Myriam Niang. The plot depicts El Hadji, a rich businessman in Senegal, who is cursed with crippling erectile dysfunction upon the day of his marriage to his third wife; that could only be cured by him stripping naked before the lowly of the society and have them spit on him. The film satirizes the corruption in African post-independence governments; El Hadji's impotence symbolizes the failure of such governments to be useful at all. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.