This exciting political thriller about the kidnapping of a beautiful princess is used to examine the confrontation between opposing forces in the face of Muslim expansion. Set loosely in the 19th century, Ceddo (the title refers to a feudal class of common people who cling to their customs and traditional religion) is not strictly a historical film. It ranges far and wide to include philosophy, fantasy, militant politics, and a couple of electrifying leaps across the centuries. In this, his most ambitious film as well as one of the cinema’s great national epics, Sembène seems evoke the whole of the African experience. In Wolof with English subtitles. (120 min.)