Moolade Essay 5

In the film Moolaade, a deeply pressing issue of women’s struggle for personal rights is presented. The scenery is painted of a small village in rural Africa where polygamy is a popular practice. One husband will have many wives that live together in a singular compound and rely on each other for substantial and emotional support. The women respect each other and work together to further the survival of their families and the village. Throughout the movie we see an intricate struggle for power between the men and women of the village. The village’s spiritual views are a mélange of ancient tribal beliefs and rituals and slanted Islamic views. The combination of these religious aspects allows one woman the opportunity to stand up for what she believes in. The woman’s name is Colle and she is the second of four wives married to a powerful man of the village. Colle shares a special bond with her husband. She endures numerous birth complications and failed pregnancies before she is able to produce one child, a daughter, through cesarean birth. Colle’s birth complications are a direct result of the “purification” rituals she was forced to participate in as a young girl. During purification elder woman of the tribe use sharp instruments to sever parts of the female genetalia for the purposes of preserving virginity for proper marriage. Through the special bond Colle shares with her husband she is able to convince him not to have the painful and traumatizing ritual practicing on their daughter Amsatou.

Several years later six young girls deflect from the group of elder women during the beginning stages of a purification ritual. Four of these girls run to Colle for sanctuary. Colle is able to keep the girls safe from “purification” by invoking the ancient protection spell “Moolaade”. The elders are stunned and baffled by Colles dominance in protecting the young girls. The Council of wise men and the elder women of the “purification” conference to decide how to force Colle to surrender the protection spell on the young girls. The decision is made that Colle’s husband must force her through a public beating to utter the words thus ending the incantation. Believing in women’s rights to make their own decisions when involving their bodies Colle refuses to release the protection of Moolaade from her home. When one of the young girls was snatched from the house of protection during Colle’s public beating and died on the purification table women across the village begin to feel much differently about the so called pure practices they are socially expected to endure. The confidence Colle exhibits through her dangerous decisions facilitates a rise of empowerment among her fellow wives and village women. The men are frightened by this new found power the women are brandishing and decide forceful detainment of all village radios in order to prevent further empowerment hysteria. Instead of intimidating the women of village the confiscation of their only outlet of worldly entertainment drives the women to mob the council of wise men and declare no women would ever be purified again.

It is refreshing to observe such a strong following among women. So often it seems women are pitted against each other in some sort of competition. The women of this village discovered that if they work together they are able to achieve what they want and or need from the social structure of their society. The subject of female genital mutilation (FGM) is an extremely gruesome conflict to discuss. It is a ritual shrouded in mystery and the people who practice it have a highly emotional attachment to why they believe procedure is necessary. Women are forced to understand that it is necessary in order to survive while essentially the practice causes the death in a high amount. The conclusion of the movie shows us how a community that is deeply affected by the consequences of a particular action, in this case FGM, can induce imminent change when people discover they have significant power in numbers.