Format: DVD from NetFlix on laptop.
There is a small irony in my watching Yeelen (Brightness) today. Just a couple of days ago, I made the comment that there are films on The List that seem to be on the list specifically because they are obscure and difficult to find. At first blush, Yeelen has that sort of feel to it; one of the first images we see is a chicken hung from a post being burned alive. This film is out of the landlocked African nation of Mali, not the place one thinks of when it comes to film. I won’t go so far as to say these are strikes against the film, but I was initially quite wary.
I should not have been. Yeelen is a film that will strike many a Westerner as strange. This is mostly because, well, it’s a fantasy tale and fantasy tales from other cultures always seem a little weird. Our own ancient stories feel natural to us; those of other lands are often not only strange, but are incomprehensible. Fortunately, Yeelen, for all of its cultural differences end evident oddity, is also a story that fits in the main with the hero tales of more familiar cultures.
