The Films of Ousmane Sembène: Discourse, Politics, and Culture By ...

Sembène was an independent filmmaker, solely and totally responsible for the content of his films, which were inspired by the realities of daily life.¹² This focus on microcosmic social relations and day-to-day politics is so central to Sembène’s art that his films breed provocative commentary on social, historical, political, economic, linguistic, religious, and gender issues relevant to Senegalese society. Because of his concern with daily Senegalese life, Sembène targeted the common people whose voices are seldom or never heard. In fact, depicting the struggles and concerns of average Senegalese people was a central preoccupation of his films, as he himself articulated:

Ce que j’ai à dire, je le dirai. Je montrerai comment vivent les Africains…L’artiste exprime les préoccupations de son peuple et de son temps. Plus qu’un simple témoin, moi, j’entends être et demeurer un artiste partisan…Passez dans les rues de Dakar, vous verrez les gens que je dépeins dans mes œuvres.¹³

(What I have to say, I will say. I will show the way Africans live…An artist expresses the preoccupations of his or her people and time. As for me, more than just being a witness, I want to be and remain a partisan artist. Walk along the streets of Dakar and you will see the people I depict in my work.)

Consistent with his focus on the daily preoccupations of his people and the disenfranchised in general, Sembène declared in several interviews that he made films for a purpose. In his view, he, like the cobbler or the tailor, contributed to the development of society through his work. Unlike the cobbler and the tailor, however, whose contributions are material, Sembène made himself useful (utile) to his community by seeking to awaken its critical sensibility.¹⁴ Through his films, Sembène aimed to spur critical thinking in his audience. Reflecting on his role as a filmmaker, Sembène argued,

J’ai conscience de faire quelque chose d’utile, ne serait-ce que pour les deux heures pendant lesquelles les gens s’enferment dans un