Named after a joyous traditional West African dance that women perform after they have a child or are reunited with a long-lost son or daughter to rejoice over the lifting of the bad luck that has burdened them, Morbayassa is a 2015 Malian film. Bella, a 30-year-old Guinean cabaret singer, lives a miserable, dangerous life as a prostitute in Dakar. Though she longs for escape, a gang of pimps, led by Kèba, treat her like property and make sure she keeps in her place. Her only hope is the thought of earning enough money to escape and reunite with her daughter, who she gave up at birth at age 15—a desperate act that haunts Bella’s nightmares and fills her with guilt. While fleeing an angry client, she meets Yélo, a Guinean worker for the United Nations, who happens to be passing through Dakar. Instantly smitten, Yélo agrees to help Bella, and so begins an epic journey of redemption, from Guinea to Paris. But can the young couple escape the clutches of the menacing Kèba? Cheick Fantamady Camara’s second feature-length film is an inspiring odyssey celebrating the courage of a woman, ferociously played by Fatoumata Diawara, who decides she will escape her dead end situation to find the daughter she could never have.
