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

and explicate Sembène’s life and cinema. In the first part, entitled “La première période 1962–1971,” Vieyra combines testimonies, critical analyses, and technical descriptions of the films. The second part of the book is a compilation of research data about Sembène’s written texts, interviews he granted, and critical reviews of his work.

Carrie Dailey Moore was the first doctoral candidate in North America to write a dissertation on Sembène’s life and work, which partially explains why I have chosen to reference it. To date, according to the MLA International Bibliography, twenty-two PhD dissertations focus on or include Sembène’s works. Moore’s dissertation is also significant because she worked with and for Sembène while conducting her PhD fieldwork. Even more significantly, the two were married for a few years, during which time they traveled together. Moore took on the role of translator for Sembène when they toured North America. Sembène accorded Moore his longest and most revealing interview. Whereas with most others he refused to discuss particularities of his films, with Moore, Sembène spoke openly and with enthusiasm. Moore’s inspiring dissertation on Sembène’s artistic trajectory is titled “Evolution of an African Artist: Social Realism in the Works of Ousmane Sembène” (1973). The dissertation, which focuses largely on Sembène’s literature and films, is informed by Moore’s personal relationship with the writer and film director and is enriched with quotations from Sembène and people from his immediate social and professional circle. Moore declared from the outset, however, that “Sembène’s films are devoid of intricate symbolism, elaborate camera shots, and sumptuous decors,”²¹ an interpretation that deprived her work of a dimension that became increasingly appealing to Sembène and intriguing to film critics. Perhaps Moore should have pushed her analysis of the films beyond the narrative to allow her readers to see the intricacy and meaning-laden cultural symbols that Sembène used in his films. Her statement underrates the significant camera work and point-of-view shots in Borom Sarret as well as the intriguing symbolism of, for example, the mask in La Noire de …. In Sembène’s later films, although natural lighting and decor were still