Senegal, West Africa, sets the scene for Ousmane Sembene's Faat Kine. Photo courtesy New Yorker Films.

A Real Survivor

In 'Faat Kine, Women Get Their Due

by Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic

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Ousmane Sembene, the 78-year-old father of African cinema, has shown the tenacity and perseverance of African women in many of his films. The village women of "Emitai" stand up to French colonizers, the widow in "Guelwar" has her angry say. In "Xala," the young daughter of a bureaucrat is sassy and outspoken.

But in "Faat Kine," Sembene gives full focus and attention to the African woman in post-colonial society. Faat Kine (Venus Seye) is a woman who must straddle the traditions of her parents' generation and the demands of the modern world, where traditions have either broken down, or are certainly hostile to an unwed mother like her.

Faat Kine is placed squarely on the divider between colonialism and independent Senegal. When we meet her she is 40 years old, which means that she was born in 1960, the year of the country's independence from France. When she was twenty, she was seduced and impregnated by her teacher, who then refused to marry her. A few years later, she was abandoned by a rogue fiance, who made off with her money and wound up in prison. Her father felt shamed by her single-mother status, called her children "bastards" and tried to burn her to death. Her mother, who shielded her from harm, nonetheless wished that she would die.

Betrayed by her teacher, who denied her a high school diploma, Faat Kine has had a rough road. She started work as an attendant in a gasoline station—an unusual position for a woman that subjected her to mockery and ridicule—and, defying the odds, has worked her way up to be a manager of a station. The job pays well and, by Senegalese standards, Faat Kine is living phat. She has supported her children so that they can finish school and she owns a large, well-furnished home.

Having accomplished so much, we might think that Faat Kine would be held in esteem by her family and community. But no. Apparently, the lack of a husband and being a woman who works at a gas station is reason enough for folks to sneer—even her own children. She presses on, both bemused and hurt by the perceptions of others.

Her story and emotional life unfold in Sembene's conversational style wherein most of the action takes place through story telling. Though dialogue about personal history and current events, and the occasional shot of modern Dakar's skyline, this film style fills the role of the African griot. Initially, the pace might seem slow and scattered for those of weaned on Hollywood fare but Sembene's story builds in momentum and complexity. His dialogue is filled with human drama, pain and comedy. One minute, we're horrified by the physical abuse from Kine's father. A few scenes later, we're laughing out loud at the sexually frank talk between Kine and her girlfriends.

As much as Sembene focuses on women, he also, as a result, comments on the role of men. It might be more accurate to say he gives men a back-hand slap while showing what survivor really means.

Screened at Filmfest D.C. 2001.

-- May 17, 2001

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