Sembene Ousmane's film, "Xala" (meaning impotence), can be seen as a revolutionary tool. Although his works were originally inspired by the African's struggle for liberation from colonial domination, "Xala" reflects the revolutionary intellectual's protest against corrupt socialist authoritarianism. Everyday events in the lives of the characters, as well as the characters themselves, portray the competition between the modern European world and the traditional African one. The film "Xala" is more effective than the novel due to the use of visual image and oral effect. (Author/STS)