Mandabi

{{Short description|1968 Senegalese feature film by Osmane Sembène}} {{Infobox film | name = Mandabi |image=Mandabi poster (French).jpg |caption=French poster | director = Ousmane Sembène | producer = Ousmane Sembène | writer = Ousmane Sembène | starring = Makhourédia Guèye Ynousse N'Diaye Isseu Niang | cinematography = Paul Soulignac | editing = Gilou Kikoïne Max Saldinger | distributor = | released = {{Film date|1968||||2021|||remastered version}} |runtime= 92 minutes | country = France Senegal | language = Wolof French }} '''''Mandabi''''' (French: '''''Le Mandat''''', "The Money Order") is a 1968 film written and directed by Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Middleton |first=Hollie |date=2021-12-01 |title=Mandabi (1968) |url=https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/fm_00197_4 |journal=Film Matters |language=en |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=205–210 |doi=10.1386/fm_00197_4 |issn=2042-1869|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sudershan |first=Suvij |date=March 2024 |title=“What did I Eat?”: Misrecognition and the Neocolonial Picaresque in Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi and Mrinal Sen’s Interview |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/919744 |journal=Cultural Critique |language=en |volume=123 |issue=1 |pages=129–162 |doi=10.1353/cul.2024.a919744 |issn=1460-2458|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The film is based on Sembène's francophone novel ''The Money-Order'' and it is the first feature film in the Wolof language, Sembène's native tongue, and the first feature-length film in an African language.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Pfaff|first=Francoise|date=1993|title=The Uniqueness of Ousmane Sembène's Cinema|url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cibs/vol11/iss1/3/|journal=Contributions in Black Studies: A Journal of African and Afro-American Studies|volume= 11|pages=13–19}}</ref> Since most of the Senegalese population at the time did not understand French, Sembène wanted to create cinema for Wolof speakers.

==Plot== An illiterate, unemployed, middle-aged, Wolof-speaking Muslim man,<ref name=":1" /> Ibrahima Dieng, lives with his two wives and seven children in Dakar. His nephew, Abdou, sends him a money order from Paris worth 25,000 francs, which he has saved from working as a street sweeper. Ibrahima is to keep some of the money for himself, save a portion for his nephew, and give a portion to his sister, Abdou's mother.

However, Ibrahima faces numerous difficulties trying to obtain the money order. Not having an ID, Ibrahima must go through several levels of modern, post-colonial Senegalese bureaucracy to try to get one, only to fail after spending money he does not have. Meanwhile, neighbors come over asking for money and Ibrahima is further indebted. In the end, he is swindled by Mbaye, his unscrupulous nephew, who promised to cash the money order for him, but steals the money, saying that he was pickpocketed. The film leaves Ibrahima in debt. The film explores themes of neocolonialism, religion, corruption, and relationships in Senegalese society.

== Remastered print == After the film had not been accessible to cinema audiences for years, it was remastered in 4K resolution and presented at the 2019 Lumière Festival in Lyon, France.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Aftab|first=Kaleem|date=9 June 2021|title=Mandabi review: Wolof masterwork ripe for rediscovery|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/mandabi-1968-ousmane-sembene-restored-wolof-masterwork|access-date=2021-06-14|website=BFI|language=en}}</ref> In June 2021, this remastered version was shown in cinemas in the United Kingdom. The Criterion Collection soon released the film on Blu-ray and DVD,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mandabi |url=https://www.criterion.com/films/29067-mandabi |access-date=February 17, 2024 |website=The Criterion Collection}}</ref> which includes an introduction from African film scholar Aboubakar Sanogo; a conversation between Senegalese novelist Boubacar Boris Diop and Senegalese sociologist Marie Angélique Savané; unseen interview footage from Senegalese filmmaker Samba Gadjigo and American director Jason Silverman’s documentary film ''Sembène!'' (2015); and ''Tauw'', a short film Sembène released in 1970.<ref name=":0" />

==Accolades==

*29th Venice International Film Festival 1968: Special Jury Prize<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VocdAQAAIAAJ&q=%22prix+special+du+jury%22+mandabi|title=Ousmane Sembène: une conscience africaine : genèse d'un destin hors du commun|first=Samba|last=Gadjigo|date=April 11, 2007|publisher=Homnisphères|isbn=9782915129243|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IxMIAQAAMAAJ&q=%22prix+special+du+jury%22+mandabi|title=Hommage à Patrick G. Ilboudo|date=April 11, 1995|publisher=Regard|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqEqAAAAYAAJ&q=%22prix+special+du+jury%22+mandat|title=Dossiers du cinéma: Cinéastes|first1=Jean-Louis|last1=Bory|first2=Claude Michel|last2=Cluny|date=April 11, 1972|publisher=Casterman|via=Google Books}}</ref> *Soviet Directors Prize from the 1968 Tashkent Film Festival of African and Asian Cinema<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Wakeman|editor1-first=John|title=World Film Directors Volume II: 1945-1985|date=1987|publisher=The H. W. Wilson Company|isbn=0824207637|page=1005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8aEYAAAAIAAJ|access-date=22 December 2018}}</ref>

==See also== *Cinema of Senegal

==References== <references />

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0063268|Mandabi}} *[https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7283-mandabi-paper-trail ''Mandabi: Paper Trail''] an essay by Tiana Reid at the Criterion Collection

Category:1968 films Category:1968 drama films Category:Films directed by Ousmane Sembène Category:Films set in Senegal Category:1968 French-language films Category:Senegalese drama films Category:Wolof-language films Category:French multilingual films Category:1968 multilingual films