Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Brilliant and touching

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I do not know what movie you were watching but Keita was the most god awful movie I have ever watched. We were forced to watch this in class and it will never leave my memory. The acting was horrible, the plot was nonexistent, and non conclusive. Why would he be expelled for listening instead of studying when he could have easily done both? And why were the hunters deemed worthy of the buffalo, they were just two suck-ups who gave the "wild" lady food and drink!

(Very mild spoiler: I mention what the plot is about, most of which will be evident in the first fifteen minutes of the movie.)I concur with Gemmabean's review above. The movie is about culture clash. The boy is poised between his tradition-bound father, and his elegant, westernized mother (speaking French), who is more concerned about the boy's important upcoming exams than in his initiation by the Griot. The movie contrasts home-scenes that are thick with emotion, and heritage scenes that depict the tale the boy must learn. The heritage tale is fanciful, and it is brought to life with a fine treatment in the movie.The contrasts are exceedingly well done, and the movie has a very satisfying conclusion.This movie is one of the great ones.

Others have already summarized the story well, so I will just say that I have seen this film twice and am always struck by the really touching and realistic friendship between the little boy and this "old man" (as many in the film call him) who is a "griot" (storyteller and musician). Even though the ending is not really sad, I inevitably find myself crying by that time, and not that many films do that to me. The rapport between the two is just so great! The other parts of the film dealing with the past and the legend of Sundiata are also quite well-done and gripping. You really get a sense of the movement of life in this area of Africa.Definitely worth checking out!

This film is a marvelous way to show the dichotomies between Europeanized West African education and a traditional form of West African education (initiation). At the same time, because all of the main characters are muslims, it implicitly shows that synchretism does eventually change cultures and create new ones.At the beginning of the movie we see a spirit incite a griot to awaken. Then the griot travels to a city where he visits a family specifically to speak to the youngest member of the family to do his work of passing on the story of the young man's name (Keita). The young man is so entranced by the long story that the neglects his schoolwork and this is where the conflict begins. In the meantime we see the difference in behavior between the young man's parents and the griot (Westernized versus traditional from eating methods to sleeping preferences).The griot's ensuing discussion with the schoolteacher is itself worth seeing the movie for...the schoolteacher does not know the meaning of his own name yet is charged with teaching young children the "knowledge" they need to succeed. The question becomes what sort of success? This film shows the merits of Afrocentric education without preaching and also entertains.