Customer Reviews

Yeelen [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Note: Original language is Bambara (African dialect) with English subtitles.

Yeelen (meaning 'brightness') is a mythic tale from Africa dealing with the spiritual forces of good and evil, darkness and light, as embodied in the form of a father and son.

Nianankoro is a young sorcerer from a long family line of sorcerers. His estranged, malevolent Father is on his way from a neighboring village to find and kill his son. Nianankoro leaves his home and travels across the stark, arid West African landscape in search of his Uncle, his Father's twin brother, in the hope that he will be able to help him defeat his Father in magical combat.

Yeelen is an excellent movie, but it isn't a film for everyone. If you're interested in magic, sorcery and the mystical traditions of other cultures you will find this film absolutely fascinating and informative. If you enjoyed Peter Weir's: 'The Last Wave' you will definitely appreciate Souleymane Cisse's: 'Yeelen.'

Its director, Souleymane Cissé, from Mali in West Africa, has expressed his desire to make films which are uniquely African in style rather than imitating those of the United Sates or Europe... To this end he relies on stories, true and mythical, told by old men and handed down through the generations...

A young warrior (Issiaka Kane), threatened with death by his evil sorcerer father (Niamanto Sanogo), goes on a journey where he learns the power of magic... The film inhabits a world of dreams, but not the kind described by Dr Freud...

However, the movie's basis in a mystical tradition does not render it inaccessible to Western audiences... The structure of the narrative, based on a quest for magical knowledge and power, is clear and firm, and the consistent pattern of imagery based on the elements of fire, water, earth and light (the title translates as 'brightness') is not specific to African culture... The film's use of landscape, yellow spaces of the desert, is one of its chief glories... The performers too have great charm...

I hope something had changed in Mali since this story of a witch-son running from and contested after a witch-father of him, was created in 1987.

It is a nice romantic movie, very special for non-Africans surely.

A window into Africa.

The film presents a gripping view of certain facets of archaic religious life on the family-clan social level. It is not the whole story, since the dominant if not sole emotional tone is one of foreboding, focusing on raw oedipal conflict along the lines of Ouranos' and Kronos' suppression of offspring in Hesiod's Theogony. But it gives one a vivid sense of a certain mentality and atmosphere characteristic of an important stage of human religious history in a way that no theoretical, analytical study can do. (We need both study and artistic representation.)

Very good production values, but the plot is thin. Except for the setting and costumes, nothing particularly African in the film thematically. Interesting to watch and good musical score, but not the great movie it has been called, and certainly not a world classic.

I suppose director Souleymane Cissé was going for stark realism in his film, but is torching a live rooster not considered exessively and criminally cruel in his country? Just thought I'd leave this warning for animal lovers and those sensitive to animal cruelty. The film opens with a close up of a real live rooster in flames and screeching in agony. I was so sick to my stomach, I threw away the dvd. There are pleanty of great world films that don't include authentic inhumane acts against animal life... inflicting pain and death upon a helpless living creature for the sake of "art." A waste of $27.

A few months ago I bought Yeelen on DVD hoping to try and get some films that give potrayals of Africa from a historical or mythical perspective. I feel that on one hand I really didn't enjoy Yeelen and on the other that would have made it more interesting to me. One of the problems I had with the film was how long it was in terms of sequences where nothing was really taking place. It seemed like it could have been shortened and I felt that some of the long scenes did not add anything and could have been edited out. I found myself fast forwarding to try to get to scenes that helped explain things. Also, there was no soundtrack, for the most part, in the background to help move scenes along. I feel that scenes where is no real action could have been enhanced by a soundtrack that matches the scenery. This made it difficult for me to watch the scenes where there was no interaction with people or the environment. Having a narrator could have also helped in trying to explain certain scenes better and helping move the scenes along.

There is not much else to say. I think that if you are going to buy this film it may be better for you to rent it first.