When the body of Guelwaar ("the noble one"), a political activist, philanderer, and pillar of the Christian community, is mistakenly buried in a Muslim cemetery, the result is a perfect storm of bureaucratic red tape, family disputes, and religious conflict. As usual with Sembene, Guelwaar is many films in one: black comedy, political allegory, social satire, family drama, and, at the end, thunderous indictment of the twin evils of homegrown African corruption and neocolonial Western aid.