Faat Kiné

Made some 40 years on from his fine Dakar-set 'neo-realist' debut, Borom Saret, Sembène's film features a winning performance from Seye as the titular heroine, one of a breed of successful Senegalese women who have made their way to some kind of fulfilment despite the hangover arrogance, weakness and moral out-datenedness and corruption of her male peers. Using a central Dakar petrol station - which Kiné manages - as a social centre and an example of new Senegalese enterprise, Sembène applies his own version of stylised 'dialectics' to spin a lively, lusty and often funny and illuminating examination of social and economic change in Senegalese society. A marvelous film, offering the psychological insight of Rohmer into its familial story, while contextualising it with a wise, vibrant African optimism all Sembène's own.