Xala is a 1975 Senegalese film directed by Ousmane Sembène, and an adaptation his 1973 novel of the same name. The film depicts El Hadji, a businessman in Senegal, who is cursed with crippling erectile dysfunction upon the day of his marriage to his third wife. The film satirizes the corruption in African post-independence governments; El Hadji’s impotence symbolizes the failure of such governments to be useful at all.
Refreshments will be served. Please RSVP with Alma Medina (almamedina@fas.harvard.edu).
