La lumière

Yeelen is a film that's very difficult to describe, and that wouldn't sound appealing to most even if one can. One thing that can't be denied however is that it's fascinating, not just the events in the movie itself but the experience of watching it. The oddly dynamic and hypnotic visuals, strange often abstract plot, and complete antipathy towards traditional western standards of storytelling. At first I wasn't sure what to make of the film, but when I witnessed the films final shot I came to appreciate it. Maybe not understand it all thematically, but appreciate it none the less. It certainly made me curious to learn more about African cinema. And ignoring the story entirely the movie still works on a purely technical standpoint, gorgeous cinematography especially.

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

See this film! A gorgeous use of cinema from an African point-of-view. There is almost no music track which helps to emphasize the wide open spaces of the African desert. Very simple but effective use of reverse film technique for supernatural effects. A very stunning film for the adventurous filmgoer.

This film is incredible. Africa has richer culture and history than any of us will ever understand, much of it lost to the sands of time and colonialism. This film offers a window on the past using real people and real destinations filmed in the mid 80s as a backdrop to the story. The actors are real. The location is real. One of the best films I've ever seen about Africa. This from a person who has been fortunate enough to live in Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe and visited 25 African countries.

This is an opportunity to experience a film that also feels like a documentary about an Africa that is now lost or almost gone.

This fascinating and esthetically moving film should be seen by all who want to understand the deeper meaning of initiation and its role in a not-so-primitive society. It is useful if not indispensable to have some knowledge of sub Saharan Africa, and to realize that these Dogon and Peulh people not only have a detailed cosmogony but believe in reincarnation and know of stars we only see through a telescope. Their metaphysics were so powerful that one of the first Islamic universities, in Timbuctoo, was created for them. Aside from this, the directness and superior acting make Yeelen one of the Eighties' best cultural products.