MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Tilai’s’ Tribal Lovers Break Taboos in a Universal Story

Like his earlier “Yaaba,” writer-director Idrissa Ouedraogo’s superb new film “Tilai” (“The Law”) presents us with a fresh vision of African tribal life. Ouedraogo combines a simplicity of style with a sensibility of the utmost sophistication to reveal how people we’ve been conditioned to regard as “primitive” actually cope with their lives much as we do. With his acute sense of the visual he can make his landscapes as expressive as those of Antonioni; there’s no doubt about it, Ouedraogo is a world-class filmmaker. (“Yaaba” took the critics’ prize at Cannes in 1989, and “Tilai” won the special jury prize at Cannes last year.)

Set against the majestic, unspoiled plains of Burkina Faso, “Tilai” (at the Nuart Saturday through Tuesday) unfolds with the stateliness and inevitability of Greek tragedy--but with lots more humor. Saga (Rasmane Ouedraogo) returns to his native village after a two-year absence to discover that his father has taken his beautiful fiancee Nogma (Ina Cisse) as a second wife against her wishes. Soon Nogma is slipping away to make love with Saga in a grass shack he’s staying in some short distance from their home village. The lovers laugh at their deception, but their tryst eventually sets off a chain reaction of disastrous events.

Their violation of one taboo leads to the breaking of others, yet Ouedraogo, while scarcely endorsing the Draconian code of behavior by which they are judged, is too wise to pass judgment on them, their adversaries or their society’s dictates. He understands that traditional customs, as outmoded, unjust and downright monstrous some may seem are part of what binds a community together.

Yet Ouedraogo casts his lot with outcasts who by fate or impulse--or both--are destined to defy society’s laws and pay the price for doing so. Significantly, the villagers do not adhere to tradition blindly or unquestioningly, but out of a sense of duty. There’s a strong feeling of the eternal and universal in Ouedraogo’s compassionate vision of human nature and behavior. He seems to be saying that while we may be free of the taboos that afflict the lovers we may be bound to another set that may seem just as ignorant and cruel.

It’s likely that Ouedraogo’s actors are nonprofessionals, yet under his direction they are natural and free of self-consciousness, and his ability to draw complex, often largely interior portrayals from them is nothing short of amazing.

“Tilai” (Times rated Mature, for complex adult themes), which has a spare, elegant score by Abdullah Ibrahim, is as exhilarating an experience as it is haunting.

‘Tilai’

Rasmane Ouedraogo: Saga Ina Cisse: Nogma

Roukietou Barry: Kuilga

Assane Ouedraogo: Kougri

A New Yorker Films presentation of a Les Films de L’Avenir production. Writer-producer-director Idrissa Ouedraogo. Executive producer Beatrice Korc. Cinematographers Jean Monsigny, Pierre Laurent Chenieux. Editor Luc Barnier. Music Abdullah Ibrahim. Sound Alix Comte, Dominique Hennequin. In Moore, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 21 minutes.

Times-rated: Mature (for adult themes).