Këita! The Voice of the Griot

This charming and extremely direct first feature tells the story of a 13-year-old boy's introduction to the tales and myths of his 'forgotten ancestors', when a village griot (folk teacher), 'on a mission', sets up his hammock in the garden of the boy's middle-class city home. The simplicity with which the director films both the problems that this precipitates - the boy skips school, partly because the Western view of history seems far less relevant and engrossing than the old man's story - and the flashbacks to the magical past, pays strong dividends. Acted with appealing grace and dignity, the film is finely shot by Robert Millie and has a gentle unobtrusive score by Sotigui Kouyaté.