Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty
Country of origin: Senegal
Year of release: 1992
Running time: 110'
Language: Wolof, with English subtitles
Hyenas tells the story of Linguère Ramatou, who as a young woman fell in love with and became pregnant for a certain Dramaan Drameh. Dramaan denied paternity of the child, and bribed two men to say they had slept with Linguère. Disgraced, Linguère was driven from her village.
Years later Linguère, now miraculously wealthy—“as wealthy as the World Bank”—returns to the village seeking revenge. She offers the villagers untold material riches if they will kill Dramaan. Seduced by this lure, the people all join together in the name of greed to effect Linguère’s wishes. Inexorably, the village descends into a mad hell of corruption, degeneration and decay.
A striking and surreal satire of neocolonialism and consumerism, Hyenas blends compelling imagery and symbolism with a unique voice and perspective. The result is a brilliantly original example of African cinema, the last feature film from perhaps the continent’s most distinctive filmmaker.
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