Educational Media Reviews Online

In the tradition of the Griot - an African oral storyteller who perpetuates the history of a village or family - Ndeysaan is told in flashback by Amul, a now-elderly witness to the depicted events. The story takes place during Amul’s childhood in the Senegalese fishing village of Timberling, and as the flashback begins, the village is shrouded in a thick fog that will not lift. Baay Sogi, the village elder, lies on his deathbed, ready to pass the leadership to his hesitant son Mbanick. After Baay Sogi’s death, Mbanick enters a trance-like state and, in the film’s most visually startling sequence, frees himself of its hold by furiously chopping down the enormous tree under which Baay Sogi is buried. Mbanick carves a boat from the tree trunk, sets sail, and returns to shore days later with a huge cache of fish. The fog lifts, Mbanick is declared a hero, and the village is happy once again.

But not for long. Mbanick’s best friend, Yatma, is in love with Mbanick’s wife, Maxoye. In a fit of jealous rage, Yatma kills Mbanick and secretly dumps his body into the sea. The village mourns its lost hero and, although never publicly accusing Yatma of murder, shuns him. Soon after, Yatma proposes to Maxoye. She disdains Yatma but agrees to the marriage in order to punish him - for she is pregnant with Mbanick’s child, and reasons Yatma’s punishment will be raising a child he knows is not his own. For months Maxoye denies Yatma intimacy, even forbidding him to touch her. Yatma becomes a pariah in his home as well as his village.

Maxoye gives birth to a son, whom she names Mbanick after his biological father. But to Maxoye’s surprise, Yatma is a loving stepfather, and as the boy grows, Maxoye gradually warms to the genuinely contrite Yatma. Eventually she even has a child by him. Yatma seems to have redeemed himself in the eyes of family and village. But in the film’s fatalistic conclusion, redemption comes only with death. The young Mbanick and Amul pilot a fishing boat into dangerous waters prowled by a shark believed to be the reincarnation of the murdered Mbanick. Yatma hurries after them in another boat to attempt a rescue but, realizing his penance is to die at sea, jumps into the water and is killed by the shark. The price of forgiveness, to answer the question-begging English title, is high indeed.

Ndeysaan plays like a folk/morality tale, which isn’t surprising considering the contribution of director Mansour Sora Wade, who previously directed the short "film folktales" Picc Mi (Little Bird) and Fary, l'anesse (Fary, the Donkey). Western audiences might be challenged by Ndeysaan’s leisurely pace and deliberate setup. Initially, the film doesn’t seem to know who it is about, with the core conflict between Mbanick, Yatma, and Maxoye established only later. The vivid imagery and convincing acting, though, might carry viewers through these slow stretches. Ndeysaan is ultimately a meditation on change, particularly the ability - or inability, in the villagers’ eyes - of a person to truly change, and the costs such change might entail. A visually arresting fable with a strong sense of character and place, Ndeysaan is recommended for larger public and academic collections.