A bold theme and a pleasant surprise

Directed by one of African cinema's veterans, Ousmane Sembene, Moolade is a film that addresses the issue of female circumcision or genital mutilation.

It's an African film right from the moment it starts and you can tell by the vivid colours, the music and its treatment.

The story revolves around six young girls, who run away from a "purification ritual", and seek refuge with Colle Ardo, a circumcised woman, who refused to have her daughter cut.

She offers them Moolade or protection and fights against rigid traditionalists in order to save the young girls from what she believes is an evil tradition.

It exposes the different rationale used by those for and against the ritual, but surprisingly presented a scenario that shows women belonging to that society opposing it and wishing it were done away with.

While it doesn't contain any graphic violence, the subtle depictions of the act and the immediate consequences of death in some cases, presents disturbing scenes of an act that has serious effects on women's health.

There are moments when the men try and exercise their authority and the characters are well-fleshed out, conveying varying emotions with natural ease to create a film that appears to be an African offering to a world audience.

In a bid to rid the women of their further empowerment, radios are collected and burnt and it is scenes such as this that form a powerful image of censorship even at the grassroots level.