Wend Kuuni
Encyclopedia
Wend Kuuni is a 1983 Burkinabé
drama film
directed by Gaston Kaboré
.
The scene then changes and focuses on a traveler finding a body of a dehydrated young boy on the ground. The traveler tries to speak to the boy, but he is mute
and doesn't remember a thing. He then picks him up and rides to the nearest village, which happens to be a Mossi village. The village leader comes and says that he is not from this village, but will raise him. The traveller thanks them and heads off.
The village chiefs decide to send a search party to find the boy's parents. When no parents are found, Tinga agrees to adopt the boy, and names him "Wend Kuuni," because destiny brought the boy to his home.
At the house, Wend Kuuni had the job of herding the goats. He made friends with his stepsister Pougnere and was very happy living in this household.
Meanwhile, the audience witnesses a quarell between one of the village elders (Bila) and his young wife. She accuses him of being impotent, and he calls her a witch. Tinga calms them both down and Bila later tells Tinga that the fight has been settled.
That day, Wend Kuuni accidentally left his knife in the field where the goats were grazing. When he went back that night to retrieve it, he finds Bila hanging from a tree branch. In that instant, he remembers the death of his mother after they had been chased out of the village, and he also remembers how to speak. He screams "mother!" before running back to the village to inform the others.
At the end of the film, Wend Kuuni recounts his story to Pougnere. He recalls his sick mother being chased out of their village, and ending up under a tree in the middle of the field. When he woke up, his mother was dead. He spoke of running for hours, falling asleep, and waking up to the traveler finding him.
The character comes back in Buud Yam
for best French language
film and in 1986 it won the Distribution Help Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival
.
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Gaston Kaboré
Gaston Kaboré
Gaston Kaboré is a Burkinabé film director and an important figure in Burkina Faso's film industry. He has won awards for his films Wend Kuuni and Buud Yam.-Biography:Kaboré was born in 1951 in Bobo-Dioulasso in Upper Volta....
.
Plot
The movie starts out with a village leader coming into the house of a crying mother. He says to give up hope that your husband is still alive. Resisting from the comments, the mother decides to run away with her child.The scene then changes and focuses on a traveler finding a body of a dehydrated young boy on the ground. The traveler tries to speak to the boy, but he is mute
Muteness
Muteness or mutism is an inability to speak caused by a speech disorder. The term originates from the Latin word mutus, meaning "silent".-Causes:...
and doesn't remember a thing. He then picks him up and rides to the nearest village, which happens to be a Mossi village. The village leader comes and says that he is not from this village, but will raise him. The traveller thanks them and heads off.
The village chiefs decide to send a search party to find the boy's parents. When no parents are found, Tinga agrees to adopt the boy, and names him "Wend Kuuni," because destiny brought the boy to his home.
At the house, Wend Kuuni had the job of herding the goats. He made friends with his stepsister Pougnere and was very happy living in this household.
Meanwhile, the audience witnesses a quarell between one of the village elders (Bila) and his young wife. She accuses him of being impotent, and he calls her a witch. Tinga calms them both down and Bila later tells Tinga that the fight has been settled.
That day, Wend Kuuni accidentally left his knife in the field where the goats were grazing. When he went back that night to retrieve it, he finds Bila hanging from a tree branch. In that instant, he remembers the death of his mother after they had been chased out of the village, and he also remembers how to speak. He screams "mother!" before running back to the village to inform the others.
At the end of the film, Wend Kuuni recounts his story to Pougnere. He recalls his sick mother being chased out of their village, and ending up under a tree in the middle of the field. When he woke up, his mother was dead. He spoke of running for hours, falling asleep, and waking up to the traveler finding him.
The character comes back in Buud Yam
Buud Yam
Buud Yam is a 1997 Burkinabé historical drama film written and directed by Gaston Kaboré. As of 2001, it was the most popular African film ever in Burkina Faso.-Plot:...
Cast
- Serge Yanogo as Wendkouni
- Rosine Yanogo as Pognere
- Joseph Nikiema as Tinga
- Colette Kaboré as Lale
- Simone Tapsoba as Koudbila
- Yaya Wima as Bila
- Martine Ouedraogo as Timpoko
- Boucare Ouedraogo as Razougou
Awards
In 1985, Wend Kuuni won the César awardCésar Award
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
for best French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
film and in 1986 it won the Distribution Help Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival
Fribourg International Film Festival
The Fribourg International Film Festival is an annual film festival in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is focused on selected cultural films from Asia, Africa and Latin America....
.