The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
The Little Girl who Sold the Sun is an ode to the potential of Africa’s most oppressed. The main character, Sili, is a poor, disabled girl trying to make a living for herself and her blind grandmother. The odds are stacked against her – is there any hope? Find out by watching it here (Amazon).
Why Watch The Little Girl who Sold the Sun?
- To meet the marginalised people of Dakar
- Get inspired by the spirit of young Sili
- It’s only a short film – so you can watch it in 45 mins
- Girl Power! This girl can do whatever the boys can!
The Breakdown
The Little Girl who Sold the Sun starts with a chaotic scene on the streets of Dakar. A woman is accused of being a thief by a man in the street. The man runs up to her, grabs her bag from her, and rummages through the bag whilst the woman indignantly shouts that she’s innocent. A crowd of spectators gathers around them to watch and laugh at the fight. It’s an opening that quickly establishes a few things:
- There’s sexism in Dakar – men hold power over women and can subject them to random searches and accusations and get away with it.
- Classism – people in positions of power pick on poor people making a living.
- The implicitness of everyone in Dakar. The spectators simply watch the powerful accuse the innocent and laugh at the unfortunates victimisation. Everyone is a part of the entrenched sexism and classism.
Our Saviour = Sili
Introducing Sili. She’s not meant to succeed in life: she’s poor, disabled, and a young. On top of that, she has to look after her blind grandmother.
So, how does she succeed? What isn’t obvious from first impressions is her incredible spirit and perseverance. She sees a few boys selling newspapers in the street and sees an opportunity. So she walks up to the newspaper office and demands some newspapers to sell.
She gets 13 newspapers (a lucky number) to sell, but she also inherits a bunch of rival sellers (all boys) and some jealous cops eager to see her fail. Watch the film here (Amazon) to see what happens.
Conclusion and What to Watch Next
The Little Girl who Sold the Sun is a great film to watch to revive your faith in humanity. Sili’s spirit gives hope to the oppressed of the world. It’s well worth sparing 45 minutes of your time to meet her.
If you want to watch more films about street kids, check out these three films:
- Slumdog Millionaire: A film many of you will have seen, it’s a brilliant rags to riches story of two kids from the Mumbai slums.
- City of God: For more violence and less hope, check out Fernando Meirelles film about street kids come slum lords in Rio de Janeiro
- Tsotsi: Follow a young thug from the Johannesburg slums and see what he does when he finds a young baby in the back of a car he robs.
Or if you’re looking for more great contemporary West-African films, check out Wallay. You’ll meet a young kid from Paris who is taken on holiday to Burkina Faso to visit his family. What he doesn’t know is that his father intends to leave him there to work back the money he has stolen from him. It’s a great coming of age story.
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