I found the language of Xala to be very ironic. What I mean by the language is the way certain events are mounted. Those who save the country and gain the power with the approval of the father of the nation serve just as the previous governors calling this system African Socialism. They replace the sculptures with the photograph of the father of the nation, but how is it different?
Later on we see the first wife. She is a weird character in that she is okay with El Hadji's marriage giving the sense that she is a traditional woman, but she is not all powerless, though, and has certain sanction power over El Hadji. The second wife somehow resists the marriage, yet she accepts it, yet she can ask El Hadji to find a cure for his Xala since she desires him pointing her finger on him with an angry voice. Their situation is also ironic, I think.
El Hadji is bound to African traditions as well, but when it comes to the certain tradition that a groom should apply before entering the bride's room, he refuses to do that. He marries the third time as a duty, as his Africanism requires, yet he cannot even get erected. I could not decide what kind of a character El Hadji is: is he a victim of the scolding and not-ending-wishes of his wives, or is he a villain who dominates over his wives.
The patrol car that the president requests comes, yet arrests two innocent men instead of the beggars who were supposed to be removed from there. I liked this ironic way of criticism especially compared to direct language that was sticking out in Latin American cinema.
Review of Xala
