Underplayed Gems

Yeelen (1987)

Yeelen poster
Directed by
Souleymane Cissé
Genre
fantasy film
Country
Mali, Germany, France
Runtime
1h 45m
Rated
NR
Rating
6.6 of 10 from 75 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A young West African man with magical powers journeys across the land while his father pursues him with a magical wooden post. The story is based on a Bambara legend set in the 13th century Mali Empire.

mysticalslow-burnmeditativeancientatmosphericintensevisually lushcerebral

What happens

Yeelen (Bambara for "brightness"/"light") is a 1987 Malian film written, directed and produced by Souleymane Cissé. It is filmed in the Bambara and Fula languages, and is based on a legend told by the Bambara people. Though the era is undefined, it is presumably set in the 13th century in the Mali Empire and is a heroic quest narrative featuring magic and precognition. Cissé has stated in an interview for Cahiers du Cinéma that it was "in part made in opposition to European ethnographic films” and that he “wanted to make a response to an external perception, a perception by white technicians and academics, an alien perception." It stars Issiaka Kane as Nianankoro, a young African man who possesses magical powers. Niamanto Sanogo plays Nianankoro's father, who is tracking his son through the Bambara, Fulani and Dogon lands of West Africa using a magical wooden post to guide him. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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