Ruin and renewal in Idrissa Oudraogo's Yaaba

Beneath the seemingly simple story of Yaaba (1989) by Idrissa Oudraogo (Burkina Faso), Marie-Magdeleine Chirol uncovers various layers of meaning and dwells on the metaphorical and symbolical nuances of the film. Her analysis first emphasizes the echoing structural pattern present in the film narrative. Next, it focuses on the cycles of appearances and disappearances that eventually lead to a dialectics of ruin and renewal. In her conclusion, Chirol expands on the motif of ruins as part of a larger perspective on the pervading theme of childhood in films by other directors from Burkina Faso, such as Gaston Kabor, Pierre Yamogo and Dani Kouyat. Indeed, the symbiosis between the young and the elderly, as well as the search for identity, fits within the scope of renewal.