If you’re a fan of Bill Moyers and Joseph
Campbell’s PBS series "The Power of Myth," you’ll love
the new film from Burkina Faso opening at BAMcinematek for a
one-week run, "Sia: The Dream of the Python" (2001),
directed by Dani Kouyate.
Kouyate’s universal film is staged in a town dominated by a tyrannical
king whose advisors encourage him to make a ritual human sacrifice
to a mystical snake god to bring back prosperity. Sia (Fatoumata
Diawara, pictured), a beautiful, noble, virgin girl from the
village, has been designated to be sacrificed, but she’s engaged
to be married to brave soldier Mamadi (Ibrahim Baba Cisse).
Sotigui Kouyate (the filmmaker’s father), plays the role of Wakhane,
head of the king’s army. Wakhane is Mamadi’s uncle and uses his
position to recall his nephew from the frontlines so he can say
his goodbyes to Sia before the python gets to her. Mamadi, of
course, has no intention of letting her die – even if it is for
the good of the town.
Sia has a mind of her own, too, and attempts to flee from her
fate. While she’s in hiding, the townspeople become divided between
their loyalties to church, state and family – especially when
the king’s soldiers attempt to beat Sia’s hiding place out of
them.
It soon becomes clear that the town madman, Kerfa (the superb
Hamdoun Kassogue), is one of the few who’s making sense in the
anguished town.
More of a bloody Grimm’s fairytale than one of Aesop’s dreamy
fables, Kouyate’s film skewers religion and politics, and has
a surprise ending akin to the shock in Neil Jordan’s "The
Crying Game." Though some of the acting falls a bit short,
like the king’s advisor, Balla (Habib Dembele), who comes across
as cartoonish as Jabba the Hut’s bumbling jester Salacious Crumb
in "Return of the Jedi," the script, acting, costumes
and on-location filming combine to make a lush, engrossing –
and subsequently haunting – film.
In Bambara with English subtitles, "Sia" will be screened
at BAMcinematek [30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland Place, (718) 636-4100]
from May 24 to May 30 at 4:30, 6:50 and 9:10 pm. Dani Kouyate
will be present for a Q&A following the 6:50 pm screenings
on May 26, 27 and 28.
