Saturday, February 8, 2014

Michel Ocelot's "Kirikou and the Sorceress"

Kirikou and the Sorceress is a 1998 feature film from director Michel Ocelot. Based loosely on folklore that Ocelot was acquainted with during his childhood sojourn in Guinea,1 this animated tale opens with the birth of the undersized but extremely precocious Kirikou.

The curious newborn hears from his mother that a powerful sorceress has stopped the community's water supply and annihilated all the men in the village. Upon learning that the his last surviving uncle has set off on a seemingly doomed quest to challenge the witch, the resourceful Kirikou rushes down the road of flame trees to assist his mother's youngest brother...
Karaba the Sorceress
Kirikou's uncle battles
the sorceress's minions