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| Tall As The Baobab Tree |
March 10 2013 – The simple yet harsh life in a rural Senegalese village is sparse and meager at best. Tending to herds, lunches under the Baobab Tree, honouring family traditions are a staple for some villagers. And yet the smallest joys of life are celebrated in this poignant and measured portrayal of family life in Jeremy Teicher’s Tall as the Baobab Tree.
Based on true stories, the real life sisters Coumba (Dior Ka) and Debo ( Oumal Ka) always put family first and when Coumba passes her school exams in the city it leads to opportunities her parents could only dream about. This joy is short lived as Coumba’s brother Sileye severely injures his leg and the medical expenses threatens to wipe out the family. Hidden behind the ever present “Its God’s Will” mantra, the patriarch, Mohamed Diallo decides his only option is to marry off Coumba’s fourteen year old sister Debo and pay off the debt with the dowry, but Coumba vehemently opposes this course of action and decides that she will find the money somehow. Any pleading to her mother falls on deaf ears so Coumba seeks the wisdom of her old school teacher. The generational struggle between loyalty to her parents and saving her little sister begins.
Now educated, Coumba sneaks off to use her new found skills to find a job and raise the necessary funds. Beautifully shot, Tall as the Baobab Tree captures the changing landscapes of the three worlds which comprise Coumba’s journey, the city, the village and the hotel she now works in. Teicher presents us with various perspectives of Senegal, further emphasised by an authentic kalimba-intense score which adds some much needed vibrance to the film’s often pedestrian stride.
Teicher film could easily be read as a petition for universal health care, however its attention seems to be far more focused on additional conflicts between tradition and education. Visible through the characters’ language, from the use of French in the city and Pulaar (an old tribal language) in the village, this struggle helps portray the current rise of Senegalese Nationalism.
Tall as the Baobab Tree is not without it’s problems. Lacking a sense of thematic cohesion, this somber film may be off putting to many by its understated depiction regarding the murky world of arranged marriages. Sympathizing with the plight of Coumba is compounded by a meandering narrative and lumbering dialogue. That being said, the film credits the stories of the people Teicher met in Senegal and there was a truthful simplicity to that experience which Teicher maintained throughout the filmmaking process.
Review: 3.5 / 5 – A generational struggle for love.
Dir.: Jeremy Teicher
Senegal / 2012 / 82 minutes / PG
Senegal / 2012 / 82 minutes / PG
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