--- title: "Ceddo" year: 1978 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/ceddo" fi1m_id: "ceddo" imdb_id: "tt0077309" tmdb_id: 97029 wikidata_id: "Q5057031" fi1m_score: 79 critics_reviews: 2 published: "2026-09-26T00:17:30.432876+00:00" updated: "2026-09-26T00:17:40.084677+00:00" region: "MY" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ceddo (1978) Directed by Ousmane Sembène · 1h 57m · Drama ## Identity Ceddo - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/ceddo - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** ceddo - **IMDb ID:** tt0077309 - **TMDB ID:** 97029 - **Wikidata ID:** Q5057031 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077309/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/97029, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5057031 **Fi1m score: 79** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Everyone stands in a circle in the sand and talks the kingdom away, one long speech at a time > Ousmane Sembène stages a kingdom’s conversion as an argument held standing up in the open air. It is formal, slow and quietly furious; the stiffness of the playing costs it something, and the anger pays most of that back. ## Synopsis In a Wolof kingdom, King Demba War Thioub (Makhouredia Gueye) has taken an imam as his adviser and his court is converting to Islam. The ceddo, the commoners who refuse the new faith, are being taxed, pressed and sold. One of them (Ismaila Diagne) kidnaps Princess Dior Yacine (Tabata Ndiaye) and holds her until the king hears the grievance. The court gathers in a clearing. The elder Fara Diogomay (Ousmane Camara) states the ceddo case through the king’s mediator, the Jaraaf (Omar Gueye); Prince Biram (Mamadou Dioumé), Madir Fatim Fall (Moustapha Yade) and the warrior Saxewar (Nar Modou) argue over who rides out to fetch her. At the edge of it all a European trader lays out guns and brandy and takes payment in people. ## Review Ousmane Sembène sets *Ceddo* in a Wolof kingdom in the centuries when Islam, the Catholic church and the Atlantic slave trade arrived at once, and he will not say which century, because the argument is the same in any of them. A ceddo, a commoner who has refused to convert, kidnaps Princess Dior Yacine and holds her in the bush until the king listens. The king convenes his court in a clearing, and the kingdom talks. That is the film: 117 minutes of people standing in the sun, taking turns, deciding who they are going to be. It is slow, formal, often stiff, and one of the angriest films we know. The staging is the argument. The four credited cinematographers, Georges Carestan, Orlando Lopez, Bara Diokhane and Seydina D. Saye, shoot the court wide and head-on, so that every speaker has a fixed place: the king on his stool, the imam at his right hand, the ceddo elders off to one side with their spears planted, the trader with his barrels and ledger. You can read the balance of power from where people stand before anyone opens his mouth. Nobody addresses the king directly. Speeches go through the Jaraaf (Omar Gueye), who repeats them, softens them and sometimes loses his nerve. Makhouredia Gueye plays King Demba War as a man who has already chosen and wants only to be spared the sight of what it costs. Ousmane Camara’s Fara Diogomay speaks for the ceddo with a tired precision, as if he has made the speech before and expects to again. Tabata Ndiaye, as the princess, spends the first half sitting under a tree beside her captor (Ismaila Diagne), saying almost nothing, and she was the person we kept watching; she listens to him the way the court will not. The men who ride out to fetch her, Prince Biram (Mamadou Dioumé) and Saxewar (Nar Modou), go one at a time with the confidence of men who have never been told no. Here is what got to us. Throughout, a white trader sits at the edge of the clearing with his guns, cloth and brandy, and he is paid in people. Ceddo bring him captives like sacks to market, and he weighs them against muskets. We were angry, plainly angry, at how ordinary Sembène makes it look, and angrier when we understood that the ordinariness is the charge he is bringing. The trade is not the villain of the film. It is the weather. Manu Dibango’s score is the boldest thing in it and the thing we argued about afterwards. Under a missionary’s vision of the future, a congregation in white, a hearse, a modern road, Dibango lays a gospel spiritual sung in English: the descendants of the traded singing back across the water over the moment of the trade. The anachronism is deliberate and it landed hard. The jazz under the court scenes works less well; it pulls us out of the clearing and reminds us there is a recording studio somewhere. The flaws are real. Florence Eymon and Dominique Blain hold shots to their full length and cut between clearing and bush with a regularity that becomes a tread, and around the hour mark we felt every minute. Much of the cast are not professional actors and some recite rather than speak, so an exchange that should sting arrives like a lesson read out. The second half takes a turn we will not describe; we will say that the film’s patience is a setup, and that it pays. Against Sembène’s own work this is the severe one. *Xala* (1975) was a comedy about a cursed businessman and let you laugh at the people it was accusing. *Ceddo* does not let you laugh at anyone. It carries a 15 and did not reach British cinemas until 17 July 1981. See it in a cinema if one is showing it, and at home only in a quiet room with nothing else on. It does not survive being half-watched, and it will not raise its voice to win you back. It expects you to stand in the sun with everyone else. *Fi1m score 79, published 26 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Ceddo worth watching?** *Ceddo* is worth watching for anyone with the patience for two hours of formal, open-air argument, and we scored it 79. Ousmane Sembène stages a kingdom's conversion to Islam as a series of speeches in a clearing, slow and stiff in the playing but quietly furious underneath. Watch it undistracted; it will not raise its voice to win you back. **How long is Ceddo, and what is it rated?** *Ceddo* runs 1h 57m. It is a drama film. **Where can I watch Ceddo in Malaysia?** *Ceddo* is not on any streaming or rental service in Malaysia at the moment. It is available in 1 other country; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Ceddo, and is it suitable for children?** *Ceddo* carries a 15 certificate in the UK and is not a film for children, though its weight comes from what it argues rather than from what it shows. The slave trade runs through it as ordinary business, with captives weighed against muskets at the edge of the court, and that is what disturbs. Teenagers with an interest in history and politics may find it rewarding. **How does Ceddo compare to Timbuktu?** *Ceddo* is the sterner and more formal of the two, an argument held standing in the sun; [*Timbuktu*](https://film.one/film/timbuktu) is looser, kinder and closer to its people. Both concern a community under a new religious order, but Sissako finds humour among the enforcers where Sembène permits no laughter at anyone. Choose *Timbuktu* for warmth and *Ceddo* for its cold, steady anger. **What should I watch after Ceddo?** After *Ceddo*, try [*Yeelen*](https://film.one/film/yeelen) (1987, Fi1m 84): Souleymane Cissé’s Malian myth of a son fleeing a sorcerer father; slow, strange, luminous. Then [*Timbuktu*](https://film.one/film/timbuktu) (2014, Fi1m 88): Abderrahmane Sissako on a town under new religious law; quiet, exact, unforgiving. ### Reviews we read (2) - **The New York Times**, Vincent Canby (64/100, inferred): The page is inaccessible, so the critic’s verdict cannot be established. The headline describes the film as a pageant and a stately power struggle, but offers no clear praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/17/archives/film-ceddo-a-pageant-from-sembenes-africastately-power-struggle.html) - **Time Out**, FD (64/100, inferred): The page presents this as a film review, but its critical verdict is unavailable. Its description points to the film’s politically contentious subject matter, without revealing what the critic specifically praises or criticizes. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/ceddo) ## Details - **Director:** Ousmane Sembène - **Director:** Ousmane Sembène - **Writer:** Ousmane Sembène - **Cinematography:** Georges Carestan, Bara Diokhane, Orlando Lopez, Seydina D. Saye - **Editor:** Florence Eymon, Dominique Blain - **Music:** Manu Dibango - **Cast:** Mamadou Dioumé as Prince Biram Ngone Thioub; Tabata Ndiaye as Princess Dior Yacine; Moustapha Yade as Madir Fatim Fall; Ismaila Diagne as Ceddo Kidnapper; Matoura Dia as King; Omar Gueye as Jaraaf the King's Mediator; Nar Modou as Mugis / Saxewar the Warrior; Ousmane Camara as Fara Diogomay the Elder Ceddo / Ousmane - **Runtime:** 1h 57m - **First release (France):** 17 May 1977 - **Genres:** Drama ## Where to watch in Malaysia Not streaming, renting or buying in Malaysia at the last check. Also available in: US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Xala* (1975): Sembène’s comedy about a cursed businessman: the same anger, this time allowed to laugh. - *Yeelen* (1987), Fi1m 84: Souleymane Cissé’s Malian myth of a son fleeing a sorcerer father; slow, strange, luminous. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/yeelen.md) - *The Chess Players* (1977): Satyajit Ray watches a kingdom lost while its nobles play a board game. - *Sambizanga* (1972): Sarah Maldoror’s Angolan drama of a woman searching for her arrested husband. - *Timbuktu* (2014), Fi1m 88: Abderrahmane Sissako on a town under new religious law; quiet, exact, unforgiving. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/timbuktu.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/ceddo