This was Ousmane Sembene's first film in color and in a native African language (Wolof). It was also his first comedy, but none of the director's sharp social criticisms have been lost in the biting humor. An unemployed man receives a money order from his nephew, but his windfall becomes a nightmare of bureaucracy and corruption as he is pursued by creditors, family members, and friends, while unable to secure the necessary I.D. to cash the money order. "It works not only as political allegory but as a social comedy, rooted in the African experience" (Faber Companion to Foreign Films). In Wolof with English subtitles.

Ousmane Sembene---Senegal---1968---90 mins.