Sarraounia, An African Queen

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Drama, War

Sarraounia was co-produced by financiers in both France and the country of Burkina Faso (formerly known as The Upper Volta). Mixing equal parts fact and fiction, this historical epic traces the rise of 19th-century Queen Sarraounia of Azna.

Sarraounia holds her place in a traditionally patriarchal society by sheer physical strength -- and, according to legend, she is also an accomplished sorceress. In 1899, two xenophobic French officers go on a mission to thwart the uprising of Sultan Rabah in the Cameroon.

Ignoring orders from the French government, these renegade officers kill anyone who crosses their path. But then they come face to face with Queen Sarraounia . . . . Lynn Watts plays the title role in this 130-minute adaptation of the popular book by Abdoulaye Mamani.