However, one scene outside the village features a neem tree, a species introduced to Africa in the colonial period.

Some critics have founds elements of political satire in the film, due to director Oumar Sissoko's resistance to Malian dictator Moussa Traoré.

[3] The film opens with a village griot reciting the story of Guimba the tyrant, of the Dunbuya family.

The setting moves to an old Malian village ruled by the evil and tyrannical leader Guimba and his dwarf son Janguine.

As the village gets embroiled in a civil war, Kani manages to escape to her father's camp on horseback with Guimba unsuccessfully giving chase.