“Xala (pronounced ha-la), Ousmane Sembene's savage and funny satire of modern Africa, was heavily censored in his native Senegal, and it is easy to see why. Forsaking the more obvious targets of European exploitation and racism, Sembene here zeroes in on a far touchier subject: the myth of African independence, the wholesale blackfacing of white colonial policies by African leaders. The hero of the film is a self-satisfied, half-Westernized black businessman who is suddenly struck down by the xala, a curse rendering its victim impotent. While this paragon desperately chases after witch-doctors and soothsayers in search of a cure, his impotence becomes a mirror of the impotence of young African nations over-dependent on white technology and bureaucratic structures.” --New Yorker Films