Albertine N'Guessan

Désiré Ecaré’s ”Faces of Women” is a technically rough, cheerfully rude, folkloric comedy about the status of women in the Ivory Coast, where Mr. Ecaré was born and raised. It is, in fact, two separate fables with a common frame, that of a street festival where the singing and dancing is nonstop.

In the first story, a bored wife is accused by her tyrannical farmer-husband of having an affair with his younger brother, a nattily dressed layabout. The wife isn’t, but would like to. At her wit’s end, she takes karate lessons in order to best her husband physically.Read More »

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In West Africa during the late 17th century, King Adanggaman leads a war against his neighboring tribes, ordering his soldiers to torch enemy villages, kill the elderly and capture the healthy tribesmen to sell to the European slave traders. When his village falls prey to one of Adanggaman’s attacks, Ossei manages to escape, but his family is murdered except for his captured mother. Chasing after the soldiers in an effort to free her, Ossei is befriended by a fierce warrior named Naka.Read More »