CEDDO
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1987 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Micro-epic from Senegal. The film is weak on style, acting, and pacing, but has a really good story. Never released in Senegal, nominally over a disagreement about the spelling of the title, but more likely for anti-Islamic sentiments.
Imagine, if you will, a story written for Akira Kurosawa. You know, one with armies clashing and sieges of great castles. Now imagine the story was done instead by a third-grade grammar-school class of about thirty people--the same heavy themes but where Kurosawa would show an army the play has to use two people. Instead of a castle there would be a tent. You would get a sort of "micro-epic." Okay, now you have some idea what a "micro-epic" might be. Ousmane Sembene's 1977 Senegalese film CEDDO is a very big film on a very small scale. The film, based on a true story, takes place in one village but it is still the stuff of epics.
In one small village in Senegal, three cultures are fighting for dominance: one worshiping the traditional village fetishes, one the new Islamic faith, and the third represented by two white Europeans. Admittedly, the latter are not so interested in converting souls as they are in trading guns for slaves. As the power shifts back and forth, more than one group decides it has to spend a few people on guns. The real catalyst of the events of the film occurs when three anti-Islamic villagers kidnap the daughter of the Islamic king. This starts a small-scale civil war that has a local band of Moslems (allies of the Islamic king against the anti- Islamic villagers) attempting to oust the king and seize control for themselves.
Senegal's film industry is still a fledgling and this film in all but its plotting falls well below what we have come to expect as Western standards. The pacing and acting are poor; the camera-work is only fair. The plot, on the other hand, is excellent. CEDDO is a film of political dialogue and philosophy and, at times, even action. Much of the excitement of the action scenes is sapped away by mishandling. Sembene is predominantly a novelist and when he made this film he did not have the filmmaking talent his story deserved. It cannot be that hard to pick up the talents Sembene is missing. Hundreds of directors in this country know how to get a reasonable acting job and how to make a film of minimal polish. They just do not have a good enough story. Sembene has a good story, one that is every bit as good as the story of Z. If Sembene could pick up a little polish in his style, he could be making first-class films. As it is, I would still give CEDDO a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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