DESPITE BEING 81 years old, director Ousmane Sembene shows no sign of losing his edge. Sembene, who became Africa's most venerated filmmaker on the strength of works like Black Girl and Xala, is as incisive as ever in Moolaadé, a folksy feature with a tough topic: the long-standing practice of female genital mutilation. The film takes place in a rural village colored by the dusty browns of earth and the vibrant primary colors of African cloths. Four young girls evade a "purification" ceremony by seeking refuge in the bustling household of Collé Ardo Gallo Sy (Fatoumata Coulibaly), a proud woman who refused to have her own daughter cut. Collé declares a moolaadé, invoking an ancient spell that makes her household an impenetrable safe haven for the girls. The film examines the woman's transgression from every imaginable angle, and while Sembene is very much on her side, he's more interested in negotiation than in resolution. The writer-director does for the village what Spike Lee did for the Bed-Stuy neighborhood in Do the Right Thing: his kinetic editing, composition, and staging make for a living, breathing space that allows us to feel the fiery intensity of the characters' conflicts. Moolaadé is a film that's experienced more than it's watched, and it's one of the most powerful works to hit theaters in recent memory. (Max Goldberg)