An arguably justified winner of the Un Certain Regard section at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Moolaade takes as its subject the painful and degrading practice of female circumcision, which I was amazed to find still happens in at least 38 out of 50 countries in Africa.

The practice is couched in the religion of Islam, but as argued by the director and lead character, this is an act that is not necessarily concerned with worship, rather a means of African men to have a hold over their women.

In the film, set in a rural village, a young mother, Colle, takes a stand and offers "moolaade," meaning protection, to her daughter and four young girls. When a band of women come to the village, equipped with vicious little knives to circumcise girls as young as 11, Colle won't allow it.

The male elders soon begin to put pressure on her, together with the circumcisers who feel that their role in society has been undermined by this defiant act. Two outsiders will have a bearing on what follows next. A young man returning from France having done his studies, is instantly a hero, but the girl he is destined to marry is Colle's daughter and she, being uncircumcised, is disgraced.

Then there's Mercenaire, an aptly named travelling mobile shop owner, bringing overpriced bread and kitchenwares to a community. An ex-army man and womaniser, he's popular with the ladies because he brings nice clothes for them to buy. Mercenaire is tolerated in the village, but he'll do well to keep out of the dispute with Colle, if he values his safety.

Moolaade is the second part of Ousmane Sembene's trilogy about heroism in daily life and Colle's admirable stand certainly fits that bill. What is particularly good about the film, apart from the beautiful colours, the authenticity and the naturalness in which it has been shot, is that it exposes a malpractice and shows, in the burning of transistor radios in the main square - the men think that the women are getting too many "ideas" from listening to their trannies - that male chauvinism is alive and kicking in many villages in Africa, where women are forced into subservience, arranged marriages and circumcision.

Those who feel angry about this will like the way Sembene's film pans out and hope (as I do) that if Moolaade is shown in Africa it might go some way to causing a reduction in the number of countries in which these barbaric acts are practiced.