Mandabi

Ibrahima Dieng, an unemployed man in Dakar with two wives and seven children, receives a money order from his nephew Abdou, who works in Paris. Abdou asks him to collect the funds and keep part of them safe for the nephew and his sister. What should be a straightforward errand soon spreads through the neighbourhood, and relatives, neighbours and traders begin to treat the promise of money as their own way out. Ibrahima must navigate administrative hurdles and the demands of those around him, while the gap widens between his traditional life and a society changing around him.

Ousmane Sembène directed and wrote the film, which followed his 1966 debut Black Girl in his filmography. Makhouredia Gueye plays Ibrahima, with Younousse Sèye and Isseu Niang as his wives, Mustapha Ture as a shopkeeper, Mouss Diouf as Abdou and Christoph Colomb as a water seller. Robert de Nesle produced this Senegalese-French co-production, which runs 92 minutes and mixes comedy with drama.

The film holds a 7.3 rating on IMDb from about 1,800 votes and a 7.1 rating on TMDB from roughly 50 votes, indicating a solid and widely recognised standing among viewers. Released in late 1968, it remains one of Sembène's earlier features.