Twist à Popenguine

In the film, Ca twiste a Popenguine, which is an early 90's depiction of a community struggling to find their own sense of culture and it is also directed by Moussa Sene Absa. The main cultures that are addressed in the film are; American, British, French and Wolof. The adults in the film are the ones that address the issue of French and Wolof cultures, and the children feud between American and British. They are so confused that they begin to do everything they can to mimic the aforementioned cultures. Including changing their given names to those of popular rock and roll and pop artists like Otis Reading.

Given this background information on the film, you now note the film's strengths and weaknesses. I felt for an African film it transitioned fairly nicely and was no to difficult to follow (Aside from the sub-titles.) Also I understand that these are not paid actors, but rather the actual community of Popenguine who faces the issues of the film in daily everyday life. But even though the characters were played by regular people it wasn't a documentary like you may think. I thought that information was a tremendous strength for the director along with his ability to use music as a central theme which acts sort of like another member of the cast in telling the story.

Weaknesses on the otherhand, were slim in my opinion. One of the main things that I may note as a weakness is not the directors fault but still a weakness nonetheless. And that is the difficulty to relate to the characters. My recommendation for this film would have to be extended to those who feel like they may not know their real culture. In conclusion, the movie addresses very important issues that any American should feel compelled to watch.

Have you ever wondered what it's like in Africa? I know I have, as an American that has never been to Africa, because all we hear about is the troubles and animals of Africa. That doesn't tell what it's like to live there. Ça Twiste à Popenguine gives us an idea. This film was made partially as a reaction to the writings of authors like Fanon. Writers, such as Fanon, have written about the idea of the colonization of the mind which is the idea that the whites make the blacks in Africa feel inferior in culture and are pressed to take on aspects of the white culture.

The clothes, music, and language and other elements of culture shown in the movie have aspects of French and American culture as well as the native culture. This shows that the colonization of the mind is false because they are using all of the cultures in different situations. This is an interesting way to perceive life in Africa, and firmly contradicts what we hear about Africa since it's 'apparently' uncivilized, uneducated, and unsanitary. This doesn't mean that the issues we hear about aren't a problem, but rather shows that life in Africa is different from life in America but not as different as we are led to believe. There are still parts of their lives that we can relate to. This movie gives a positive look on colonization and shows how there is give and take between cultures.

I would recommend this movie to anyone that is curious as to what living in Africa is like while looking for a reason to smile.

Absa's movie Twist à Popenguine is based in Popenguine, Senegal. It's a movie that is, on the surface, about teenage angst and struggle-however it ends up being a tale of western colonization into Africa. It begins with two different gangs of teenagers one named the 'ins'(the inseparables) and the other named the 'kings'. Both of these groups gave each other American rock star nick names and lived in Popenguine. However the ins had the girls, school, and a ocean-side shack while the kings had a record player. The two groups constantly rivaled over trivial matters and they're fighting eventually broke into a fire and turmoil for all the residents of Popenguine.

The older generation in Popenguine sees they're westernized sons and daughters with a sense of hope for them, but disgrace for their culture. The rabbi is one of the leading examples of continuing African culture. He sees the young kids and teenagers of Popenguine as the almost death of African culture. It seems though that he doesn't know if this is a good or a bad thing because he makes friends with the children's french teacher.

Watching this movie, at first, seemed to be just another trendy teenage movie. But once you dig deeper you find the prominent struggle between African and western culture and can't help but to feel intrigued. I highly recommend this movie to anybody studying African history today.

Ca Twiste a Popenguine is a great movie that shows what it is like to live to present day Senegal, the people, the culture, and how they all perceive themselves. Beyond the poor editing and subtitles lies a wonderful tale of the difference in generations that Moussa Sene Absa describes as colonization. Although the two groups of children didn't like each other, the King's and the In's, they were both into American music and clothes. To the kids, they were just being themselves from what they have seen and heard, but the Elders; they were becoming westernized and saw as a threat to the Wolof tradition.

Moussa Sene Absa did an amazing job writing and directing Ca Twiste a Popenguine. For the low budget, nonprofessional actors/actresses, Absa created a great tale of what it is like to be in Senegal. This movie could be compared to any movie in the United States. It's just a bunch of kids trying to make money and having fun. They get in trouble and still defy their "elders" and continue to be mischievous by doing the same things over and over again. It's a fun movie but also a deeper meaning behind it.

The main theme behind the movie, Ca Twiste a Popenguine was the colonization of the Wolof culture. Popenguine, located in Senegal was a good location, Absa the author picked for the movie. I liked the fact that Absa used regular people and not actors, this help to portray the culture changes even better. The Wolof culture had many different influences, tradition, French culture, and American culture. The culture was affected traditionally by the adults and older people. They liked there traditions and ways of living and didn't want to change. You could tell this by the traditional cloths they were wearing. On the other hand the French teacher was trying to modernize the young culture, by teaching them the French language. The American culture and music played a big part in the young kid's eyes. They wanted to act like, and dress like the American singers.

Things that didn't work was the way Absa went from day to night, one minute it would be the middle of the day and the next minute it would be pitch dark. Woman had a very unique role in the movie, and defiantly a different role today in the American society. During the first party, the two young women were not able to dance because they had to serve food. It seemed like the movie wouldn't appeal to the American movie watcher, for one we don't like to read subtitles. The movie was hard to follow and didn't seem to make sense in many different accounts. The movie overall had a very good plot line and did a good job in showing how the three different cultures worked together.