Balla Moussa Keita Movies

The Bible's Book of Genesis is given a new spin by director Cheik Oumar Sissoko in his film La Genèse/Genesis, which recasts a famous story by relocating it in the nation of Mali and using a cast of African actors. Covering chapters 23 through 37, in which the world is reborn after the great flood, Esau (Salif Keita) has his birthright stolen by his brother Jacob (Sotigui Kouyate) in exchange for a plate of beans. Esau plots revenge against Jacob, who is lost in grief after the death of his beloved son Joseph. When Jacob's daughter announces she wishes to marry the son of Hamor the Canaanite, his brothers insist the Canaanites must be circumcised. After the surgery is performed, however, one of Jacob's sons launches an attack on the men, still weakened from the mutilation. To Jacob's horror, soon every male in the village is dead. Esau later makes peace with Jacob when he informs him Joseph is not dead, but has been sold as a slave to wealthy men in Egypt, where the brothers then travel together to reclaim him. Combining an accurate interpretation of the Biblical story with relevant allusions to African history and culture, La Genèse/Genesis was enthusiastically received when it was screened in the "Un Certain Regard" series at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This unique French-Guinean drama is adapted from the 1953 autobiographical novel by Guinean author Camara Laye and features in its cast actual members of the author's family. It is set in French-ruled Guinea and centers on the adolescent Baba who lives with his family on the banks of the Niger River. But for Baba's tendency to get in trouble with his mother, Kouda, for hanging out with his friends after dark, he and his family are close and very happy. Wanting for his son to have a better life, Baba's father, Madou, decides to send the youth to boarding school; Baba is nervous about the prospect, but dutifully goes to the coastal city, Conakry where he is alternately exhilarated and bewildered by city life. The prospect of learning French and other lessons is at first daunting, but with the help of his middle-class uncle Moussa and his family, Baba learns to adjust. After experiencing the highs and lows of his new life for a year, Baba finally returns to his village a mature young man. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This African drama presents a political allegory about apartheid. It begins as a South African grandmother tells a story about how animals and humans once competed for control of the Earth. The film then moves into the story of young Nandi and her family who live under the repressive rule of the wicked whites. Nandi loses her family one tragic night when her father and brother are shot for walking on an Anglos-only beach. She in turn kills a cop and is forced to run for her life. She flees to the Ivory coast where she learns about the joys of life after apartheid. There she also meets Solofa who wants to marry her; she says yes, but only on the condition that he go with her on a humanitarian mission to her oppressed home village. Later, Nandi grows more concerned with her own needs and decides to abandon Solofa and leave along with a young Taureg girl whom Nandi uses as her "daughter." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This film, directed by Malian director Cheick Oumar Sissoku confronts the patriarchal traditions of Mali, including the controversial issue of female circumcision. A recent widow, Nanyuma feels liberated from the cruel treatment of her late husband but is ordered by the village chief to marry her husband's equally oafish brother. She leaves the village and hides with her niece Fili but is eventually forced to return. Although her resistance to her culture's rigid traditions stirs her people to a higher level of awareness of freedom and social independence, Nanyuma realizes that her only chance at claiming her own freedom will be by leaving her community. The film's satiric approach is modeled after a theatrical tradition native to Mali.
~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, Rovi

Bah (Fousseyni Sissoko) is the son of an African tribal chieftain and his girlfriend Batrou (Goundo Guisse) is the daughter of a military governor ruling over the region where the students live and attend the university. Both students are committed to political activism, and take shared stances that oppose the views of their parents, stances that also cause them to suffer at the hands of the brutal military. Disaffection escalates, and the couple end up in prison after the vicious quelling of a demonstration in which many were hurt, catalyzing mass unrest over the detention of innocent bystanders. Bah's father turns to ancient ways of seeking help and protection by praying to a sacred tree and receiving instruction from a vocalizing wind. He then goes to confront the governor -- the past confronting the colonial period -- and although the governor tries to kill him, miraculously he is not hurt. Whether or not Bah and Batrou leave prison alive, there is a sense that change is in the wind. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi