Zan Boko (1988) Reviews

African filmmaker Gaston Kabore portrays the effects of urbanization on traditional village life through the story of a single farmer in his 1988 film Zan Boko. Tinga Yerbanga, a principled, dedicated farmer, resides in a small village inside Burkina Faso with his wife Nopoko and several children. The traditional, deliberately paced life of their village is disrupted when the city of Ouagadougou expands its boundaries. Soon Tinga is in conflict with his new, wealthy neighbors, who object to the close presence of "peasants" and wish to purchase his land to build a swimming pool. When Tinga refuses to give up his homeland, he becomes subject to persecution by the city's government, which openly favors the interests of the rich. This individual conflict threatens to have more wide-ranging effects when Tinga's case is taken up by Yabre, an independent-minded press official who has been repeatedly censured for reporting on government abuse. Kabore's deliberately paced drama contrasts the corruption and duplicity of the leaders of African's urban society with the integrity of the poorer country dwellers, focusing much of the film on a detailed, respectful portrait of the traditions and beliefs of village life. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi