Karmen Geï

There are 52 known film versions of Bizet's opera, but this Senegalese take breaks ground in two ways. The fickle temptress swings both ways; and Ramaka's film is touted as the first movie musical produced in sub-Saharan Africa, with an adoring Greek-style chorus and team of sabar drummers awaiting Karmen wherever she may roam. Hampered somewhat by erratic pacing, the film develops as a series of shapeless, albeit energetic set pieces, with nods to Sembene's pioneering Black Girl once this unusually tender and sympathetic Karmen hears death knocking at her door. JWin.