Tableau Ferraille

In one of the most darkly humorous scenes in Senegalese director Moussa Sene Absa's political parable, a village entrepreneur tries to enlist the aid of the film's fallen hero Daam (Ismaël Lô) in dumping a few barrels (when challenged, the young man corrects Daam by saying "they're not toxic, they're radioactive"). In Tableau Ferraille, we follow poor Daam, a political aspirant whose plans to lead a quiet, double-wived, figurehead life, are dashed when forces beyond his control (local business interests, family corruption) basically conspire to chew him up and spit him out. Although the setting is post-colonial Senegal, the story is universal, even familiar: power begets greed begets cue-up-the-Greek-tragic-chorus. However, the specifically African details of the tale allow us to see the story anew through freshly independent eyes. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)