Little Senegal

Excellent drama turning on the theme of history, cultural heritage and displacement. Kouyaté is the learned elder who leaves Senegal to trace the history of his slave relatives in Carolina, ending up in New York where he finds his family's still hard-pressed descendants living near one of his nephews. Writer/director Bouchareb's spare style pays immense dividends, allowing time for his characters' simply expressed but complex utterances to resonate fully. Kouyaté is superb, his aged grace suffusing the movie with hope and dignity.