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Kirikou and the Sorceress
France/Belgium/Luxembourg 1998
In an African village a woman is waiting to give birth when her son Kirikou crawls straight from her womb. The already articulate Kirikou demands to know what is happening in the world. He is told the village is blighted by the sorceress Karaba, who has eaten most of the menfolk and wants gold in tribute. Kirikou finds his uncle walking towards Karaba's dome-shaped home; the baby tricks Karaba and saves his uncle. Kirikou saves the village's children twice, before investigating a spring that Karaba supposedly dried. He finds it is being drunk by a bloated monster, which he punctures. The flood nearly drowns him, but the villagers' wishes bring him back to life.
Determined to learn more about Karaba, Kirikou sets off to speak to the Wise Man, his grandfather, who lives on the other side of the mountain. After several adventures, he reaches the Wise Man, who explains that Karaba turned evil after being attacked by bad men, one of whom drove a thorn into her back. Kirikou...