La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil (The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun)

The second part of an unfinished trilogy entitled Tales of Little People, Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambety's final film is immersed in the lives of the street children of Dakar, capital of Senegal. Mambety's protagonist is a young, handicapped girl named Sili Laam, who begs in Dakar's central market with her blind grandmother (a singer of traditional songs). We follow Sili as she undertakes the role of street vendor, hawking the newspaper Soleil, despite the intimidation tactics of a group of boy vendors who resent her presence. She lives up to her observation that, "anything a boy can do, a girl can do." Sili is a profoundly ethical presence in a milieu where the sunny vistas belie Senegal's social inequality and an economy that is not in-synch with the global economy. Sili, crutches and all, is undaunted and resolute in the face of impediments that seem insurmountable, as well as fighting a caste system that seeks to marginalize her. She might well be taken as symbolizing Mambety's prescription for Senegalese--indeed, for West African--economic autonomy in the 21st century. A film well worth the watch, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Van Vleck)