
Lovely award winning Malian comedy movie “Guimba the Tyrant” (1995) directed by Cheick Omar Sissoko and starring Mouneissa Maiga, Helene Diarra, Lamine Diallo, Falaba Issa Traore, Bala Moussa Keita among others.
The story is set in a fictional Mali village where Guimba (Falaba Issa Traore) is the village chief and a tyrant. He has a dwarf Jangine (Lamine Diallo) for a son.
The dwarf is set to marry the village beauty, Kani (Mouneissa Maiga) but the dwarf is more interested in her mother Keya (Helene Diarra) than the daughter. Then the Guimba becomes greedy and says i will marry Kani for my pleasure.
Kani’s father Mambi (Bala Moussa Keita) rebels and withdraws his oath to get Kani married to Jangine upon which he is thrown out of the village. Fight ensues between two camps in the village. The film has displayed elements of the Malian society of patriarchy where woman are just slaves to be entrusted as the men like it.
There is undertone of comedy throughout the plot and the director has kept the narrative neat and tight. Bala Moussa Keita has acted quite well as the father of the bride. Others are okay but screen presence is not given enough to the ladies. IMDB 6/10