Kirikou et la sorcière / Kirikou and the sourceress (1998)

The Common Room Other Animation
#1

Anyone seen this movie? I just have recently, and plan to get it on DVD if I can. It’s original movie is french, but you can find it in english subs on youtube. (Where I’ll admit I watched it, I think I might get it though on DVD if I can find it).

IMDB can be found here:

imdb.com/title/tt0181627/

In a little village somewhere in Africa, a boy named Kirikou is born. But he’s not a normal boy, because he knows what he wants very well. Also he already can speak and walk. His mother tells him how an evil sorceress has dried up their spring and devoured all males of the village except of one. Hence little Kirikou decides, he will accompany the last warrior to the sorceress. Due to his intrepidity he may be the last hope of the village.

It’s about a little boy in an African village which is plagued by a sorceress who takes advantage of them. But things are not as simple as they first appear, and Kikirou is often teased for his small stature, however he uses his brains to save the day in various ways.

I also liked the fact [spoil]the sorcerouss actually had a reason for why she was acting that way, (a thorn in her back casuing a large amount of pain and helping her first gain her powers.) In some ways the ending is strange but it certainly fits the style of the movie. Also the fact she never in fact ate the men but their actual fate was rather clever.[/spoil]

It was first released in 1998 but I hadn’t heard of it until now.

So anyone seen it? It’s based on a West African folktale apparently.

#2

No, but it looks intriguing so I added it to my Netflix queue.

#3

The precocious Kirikou! Small in size, but very wise. Wonderful, charming film that nicely captures the fatalism, fickleness, and whimsy of people in West Africa (been there, love the cultural traditions…especially the food!). Some of the patterns (Karaba’s robe, the snake) are reminiscent of kente cloth, which some folks here might have studied in school.

Cheers! Steve

#4

I may be deja-vuing, but I think I remember seeing comic books of it back in my school library when I was studying French. Is it a comic-book adaptation? I’ve been meaning to watch this for some time. :slight_smile:

#5

I’m not too sure, I just saw the movie- but it is apparently based on a West African folktale and the movie was shown in French originally. Thank goodness for subtitles though. (Is very bad at French).

#6

Even more than the African-to-French-to-English process of linguistic translation, there is some interesting cultural communication happening in the film. If memory serves, the word “normal” is used to communicate a more complex idea like “that’s the way the ball bounces” or “c’est la vie,” something like that. But it’s what Kirikou means when he simply says, “normal,” thus reflecting West African fatalism.

Cheers! Steve