This Senegalese docufiction film explores the shy romance between Ngor and Coumba, set against the background of a tough rural life. The persistent drought means that earnings for millet and groundnut farmers in the village are in decline. Neither Ngor nor his family can afford to pay the dowry for Coumba, so he decides to try his luck in Dakar.
Filmmaker Safi Faye loosely frames her feature film as an audiovisual letter about the village where she was born. She used local villagers as actors and provides the occasional comment herself. There are tragicomic scenes under the tree in the heart of the village, where the menfolk gather to discuss the dire situation. The high-flown French in the newspaper read aloud by the teacher has little relevance to their daily life.
Faye also takes time for the daily routines of village life: children at play, and women at work on the arid land, cooking on a wood fire and sifting the millet. The subtle storyline meanders through it all—as does the indirect criticism of an agricultural policy that promotes monoculture, ultimately harvesting only poverty.
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