Yaaba first brought international recognition to African director Idrissa Ouedraogo, winning, among others, the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1989. Like other African movie, Yaaba is a movie characterized by pragmatism, simplicity and serenity. It derives its morality and its richness from its focus: in this case, the timeless village, and the powerful, well structured and clearly emphasized characters. African directors are known for working with low budgets and for creating fabulous parabolas against the odds and Yaaba is no exception from that rule.
In Moré, the language of the Mossi villagers the movie features, means grandmother. But we’re not dealing with the usual African grandmother we have in mind: one surrounded by sons, grandsons, extended family where everyone comes for advice and refuge. Sana (played by the unknown Fatimata Sanga) is a pariah living on the outskirts of the village, far away from anyone else, surrounded by thorny bushes and the cemetery. She is so old and lonely that most villagers think she’s a witch and consequently blame her for any misfortunes they might face. She is poor, but her poverty derives from her isolation. In a village where the line between private and public property is very thin, needy people would normally find assistance from their neighbors and friends. But Sana doesn’t have any of that and is domed to a life of solitude and misery.
She is befriended by two of the most unexpected characters: two cousins, a young girl called Nopoko (Roukietou Barry) and Bila (Noufou Ouedraogo). They see her every time they go to the cemetery, where Nopoko’s mother is buried. While initially scared of her, they become her friends simply because they realize that she cannot be responsible for all the bad things that happened to the village. When a family’s granary burns down, the villagers again blame Sana, but Bila was with the old woman at the time of the incident thus knowing that she could not have been responsible for that. When he tries to raise his concerns about the accusation, he is abruptly interrupted by his ignorant father who refuses to listen to what he has to say. Bila calls her Yaaba (grandmother) in sign of respect for her age, and Sana is profoundly touched by this name: ”This is the first time that someone has called me Grandmother, and that makes me happy,” she says.
Fatima Sanga as Yaaba
Fatimata Sanga plays Yaaba with the kindness, submission and patience that is expected of the character. Her performance is simply breathtaking and it is simply unbelievable that Yaaba is the first and the last role Mrs. Sanga will have ever played. It is hard to imagine that any well-known Hollywood actor will have ever played this role and created the intensity and the ingenuity of this forsaken character.
Another notable aspect of the movie that distinguishes Yaaba from the average Hollywood production that is set in Africa is the location of the movie. It is filmed in Sahel, against barren, endless and daunting plains, with hardly any vegetation, exotic animals or gorgeous sunset views. It does not try to explore the African landscape but focuses on the evolution of the main characters, their thoughts, anxieties, fears, actions and reactions. The main focus of the movie is the consequences of local superstition, how they play in the common imagination, how hurtful and abhorrent they may be. Because Sana is considered a witch, villagers hate her, women always say mean things to her and children throw rocks at her. She answers to all their aggression with silence, which is a sign of her maturity and experience. She accepts her status and knows that changing people’s views is beyond her power.
When Nopoko falls sick after being cut with a rotten knife, Bila and Yaaba have to find a way to cure her while avoiding the robustness and the narrow-mindness of the villagers, as they gradually shift from thinking that the girl has malaria to thinking that the witch is to blame for the sickness. In the process, Yaaba’s house is set of fire and she has no place to go to.
The village presented in the movie is one that was left out if history. There are no sings of anything that we, the Western public, would associate with civilization: access to clean water, electricity, roads, and hospitals. Or that this village is a part of a more extended universe: all characters know each other; there are no strangers, no missionaries, no administration, no politics, and no news from the outside world. The only signifier that the village might actually be a part of something bigger than what we see is the presence of money – small coins that are rarely traded for goods. In fact, we mostly see them used when children play with each other, when a fake blind man pleas for mercy or when a local healer is asking for payment for its services. As the village is completely suspended in time, it is impossible to state if the action is set during the pre-colonial, colonial or post-colonial times. This is both a great advantage and a disadvantage. It is an asset because it provides the director with the opportunity to create very solid characters and to show their complicated lifestyle, values, and beliefs without diverging from the main storyline. Their superstitions therefore become contextualized and redefined, thus the movie acts like an anthropological initiation to the life of the African village it portrays. It provides the Western public with the desired opportunity to experience Africanity in what appears to be an uncontrolled, serene environment where Africans don’t act differently just because Muzungus (white people) are in the area. However, by not extending the universe of the village, the director downplays social, political and economic complexities by creating a word where everything can be easily (or, shall I say, apparently) accessible.
From a technical point of view, the movie doesn’t have too much to show, but that was not the intention. A stationary camera is used at all times to capture the action in what seems to be a linear progression. No special effects are used but that doesn’t prevent the camera from capturing the feelings and the beauty of the characters. In fact, the technical simplicity is just a corresponding feature of the simplicity of the movie. They work beautifully together.
Why watch the movie?
This movie is ultimately about friendship, about putting differences aside and enjoying one’s presence. It is also about cross-generational bonds. It shows a different side of humanity, of morality and differences. An ostracized old woman forgives her perpetrators despite the fact that they will never ask for forgiveness or even realize that what they did was wrong. Children, in their innocence, are more mature and sensitive than their parents. Villagers, despite their flows, are united, cohesive and sensitive to other people’s problems and hardships. Ultimately, Yaaba is a subtle, though most likely unintended rebuttal to the Lord of the Flies in which a small scale society can properly function despite the lack of authority, administration or institutionalized force.
This movie is rated 10/10
No movie trailer available.
