Borom Sarret

Plot

Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène's Borom Saret tells the story of a poor man trying to make a living as a cart driver in Dakar.

While he expects to be paid for his services, he never makes it clear, so when he does not receive payment he is often left feeling disappointed and taken advantaged of.

Among the people he meets is a man delivering his dead child to the cemetery. When the man is not allowed in because he does not have the correct papers, the cart driver abandons the body in the ground and leaves the man lamenting over his loss. In another sequence, a well dressed man asks to be taken to the wealthier French quarter of the city. They argue, but the cart master takes him anyway. The city prohibits horse-drawn carts and a policeman fines the cart driver, taking his medal for payment. At this point, he mourns the loss of his medal, a military decoration he wears suggesting that he, like many Senegalese natives, had been drafted into the French military. The well-dressed man has left his driver and the cart driver is now left without the means to earn a living.