Sango Malo: The Village Teacher

So, in class today we finished Sango Malo: The Village Teacher. The movie, created in 1990 in Cameroon, centers around two teachers, Sango and Malo, in a rural area. Sango, an older man, is the headmaster of the school, and represents the old, traditional ways of teaching that derive from colonial times. Malo, a recent graduate, is the new teacher the school hires, and he represents new ideas that change the village.
The film depicts, among other things, the power structures within the village. There is only one general store, so that shopkeeper controls much of the economic activity of the village. The priest and Sango influence the social and political debates of the village. At the top of it all is the chief, who decides how much people are taxed, what land they have access to, etc.
Sometimes I even manage to disappoint myself with my Western-centric viewing of films. At one point, the film cut to a man hanging from a tree. My first thought was "Oh my gosh, lynchings happen even here?" It turns out he wasn't lynched by certain powers in the village but had killed himself, which isn't any better, but I suspect I was not the only one in class who saw this and thought of the terrible American tradition of lynching "uppity" African Americans. On some level, it's a good thing I know that history, and don't deny it or apologize for it. On another hand, I may have internalized the idea that Africans are lynched and can't possibly commit suicide.
What bothered me most about the film was the representation of women. There were only a few women shown in the entire movie, and, as in most American films, they were simply characters who revolved around the men, when they showed up at all. One woman was shown as simply being the chief's property: she massaged his feet and, it was implied, slept with him. Sango's wife is shown briefly, always doing chores. One young woman dreams of leaving the village, and thankfully, refuses the gross come ons of the shopkeeper. Ngo is perhaps the most problematic of all the female characters. She marries Malo, but does not get a dowry for her marriage. Her father becomes so embarrassed by this that he commits suicide. What annoyed me was that Ngo had to get married at all, since she finished training as a teacher. What I wanted her to do was to observe the events in the village, and then go to another village to teach a hybrid form of education, one based on both Sango's and Malo's ideas.
I often feel like there are so many great examples of African art created by men that espouse such wonderful ideas, but almost always forget women. Women are never allowed to simply be, they must always be connected to a man.
The last thing that irks me is that we're suppose to write a paper on African education for this class. Last night I sat down and wrote an outline, after considering what I think is most important for an education system. I thought back to a young man I had known in high school who had a learning disability that had made reading difficult. He got angry when the school decided to cut certain vocational training. Back then, I couldn't help but think how necessary that was, since he was probably going to get a job as a construction worker and would need classes like woodshop, where they always built homes in the class. At the same time, I myself was obviously college-bound, and I wanted to be educated in a way that prepared me for that. I've always believed the best education system is the one that allows for the most versatility and provides opportunities for all, not just a few. This was what my outline is about. Today, the teacher talked about that. Now I'm wondering if I should maybe rework my outline.