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Burkina Faso, France · 2004
1h 30m
Director Kollo Sanou
Starring
Genre Drama
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Sogo, a military veteran and village elder, is expecting his pension to come in any day now, so he purchases a mill for the community on credit. When it does not, he repeatedly makes requests to the state office, which are consistently ignored, igniting his spirit to fight back.
Mr. Sanou, the director, has shaped this slight, familiar tale with African storytelling techniques, including a griot, the local teacher, who chants Sogo's epic struggle as it evolves, and a chorus of feisty village women who enter the action at decisive points. ''Tasuma'' is innocuous enough, though it often seems willfully tight and channeled, as if Mr. Sanou were doing his best not to allow the reality of these lives to intrude on his pleasant fantasy.