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.

The embers of European imperialism have yet to cool in much of Africa, but in the seaside post-French-colonial village of Poponguine, Senegal, the effects of cultural colonization were as soft as candlelight and as animated as James Brown. That is the image that Moussa Sene Absa created in the 1993 film Ça Twiste à Poponguine, his celebration of the time when his home, a traditional African village in the 1960's, underwent integration of American and French cultural influences. Absa remembers that time through the character Bacc, a young native, who without a mother or father, is raised by a community of growing pluralism. Bacc's notable daily activities consist of going to school where the children learn French from M. Benoit (sent from France to continue French integration), and running errands for older kids in a street-wise hustler fashion, bearing his personal interests above the rest. The plot focuses on rival teen cliques during the Christmas season of 1964: the Kings, who own the town's only record player, but had no girls; and the Inseparables or `Ins', who had no record player, but had girls - `and that was key,' notes Bacc. Each group hoped to attain what the other had, and Bacc plays each group in order to forward his own causes, unexpectedly resulting in a raucous between the gangs, and the conflagration of one gang's hangout. But with no serious injuries, the events that transpire lead to a greater unity in the community and a generally feel-good movie that deals lightly but appropriately with the issues of cultural colonization.

Absa gracefully touches on difficult issues, like Africa's forgotten identity and European-American view of Africa through Social Darwinism, by proportioning the seriousness of those issues to their effects on the daily lives of characters in the movie. Dame Castiloor, the village's mother-of-all, a Vodun practitioner, a symbol of both traditional culture and the maternal role, talks to Bacc about his education. Although he is learned in French history, the Dame encourages him to revive the history of Africa. On a previous night, kids gather to hear the Dame tell a fairy tale about the tiny dwarf with a gourd full of gold. The dwarf blocks the road from passers-by, challenging them to fight. The Dame asks why, and Bacc answers that if a knight could defeat him he would become the richest of all, but if he loses he will be cursed and remain poor and blind, wifeless and childless. 'The losers will have no control over the future of their world,' it seems to say, in one of the most cryptic (and most memorable) scenes of the film.

One difficult scene to bear is one which Benoit, inebriated, concludes that if Africa colonized Europe, Europe would have lost all culture. Benoit, in his state of drunkenness does not represent his own true beliefs, but the general colonial attitude; in his lucid moments, he is merely another displaced person in search of his own place in the world, as shown in a dialogue between him and a Muslim notable, spoken in Woloff. Benoit's desire to leave Poponguine continues to grow as he feels more and more an outsider, despite different figures of authority in the village who wish him to stay; when he is finally integrated into the village, it is not by the pontifications and prayers of religious figures Perè Joseph or El Hadj Gora, but by the singing of Dame Castiloor and the children. Although the issues may seem somewhat coarse in writing, Absa puts them in action without forcing the idea through extreme camerawork or manipulation of the characters; the ideas flow naturally through the story and the characters' symbolic meaning, so that the average viewer will not be put off by the issues, and the less-than-average viewer may not even perceive many of them (the sign that reads "Popenguine").

There are uncountable moments of nearly imperceptible pokes and prods at the current state of affairs in Poponguine, one being the joke mentioned in the previous paragraph. The man who approaches Benoit talks of a `beautiful black boy' his wife just gave birth to, which must not be Benoit's child, he jokes. Even as a joke, it can imply that in the traditional group-oriented African village, a child's father is every man in the village; men can take multiple wives in accordance with local Islamic practice. The ideas held by such notables are held in contrast to the ideas of the teens. For example, Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday of the `Ins' group have a relationship based on romance and monogamy, which annoys Otis Redding of the `Kings' because as the cousin of Otis, Sylvie should be promised to him in the traditional manner. This shows the shift from dominant Islam to Christianity possible in the upcoming generation, but like many ideas presented in the movie, the viewer has the freedom to make those connections and inferences.

The freedom that the viewer has to make connections and inferences, and think more deeply about the issues of the movie is what makes Moussa Sene Absa's Ça Twiste à Poponguine more enjoyable than American mainstays of the socio-cultural genre. The camerawork is tastefully understated and carefully considered, as is the editing. Never does a scene seem to drag on, and the scenes that are building to something are spiced with a dashes of humor, such as the scene at Ginette's when one of the young adults is talking about sexual encounters with a drowsy woman to Benoit, whose worsening condition as a lonely drinker is being presented in this scene. The subtlety of so many issues and ideas makes this movie a joy to watch, its worry-free presentation allows one to watch again in order to pick up on subtle implications and decipher the symbolic meaning of characters. Altogether a cheerful tribute to his childhood home, Absa's Ça Twiste à Poponguine will lighten the heart as you witness a movie that itself symbolizes the relatively smooth cultural transition of Poponguine.

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 Popongunie brings to light several issues with the culture change that is taking place not only in Popongunie but in Africa as a whole. The director does a very good job of showing African culture without bringing any western influences or ideas into the actual filming and making of the movie. He does a very good job of showing how western culture is effecting the youth in the village. For example how the kids in the gang have a party and play music and one of the village elders hearing the music walks in to find people dancing. The village elder cuts the music and the boys who through the party were punished. Many of the children's parents were said to be "lost in the city". He refers to western cities and the mothers choose to go there and not come back because they liked the western culture better. The director shows the English teacher when he is drunk and is speaking very harshly about Poponguine, he insults the community greatly. The people of the town to not take any offense to what he says, he shows this in the movie and how the people care for him and try to make him more comfortable. He shows the kindness of the people of Poponguine very well. For the most part the movie was very easy to watch and understand. I did at times question how well the French was translated into English. There were however a few times during the movie that were hard to watch and agree with being from the western culture. In one scene the French teacher made it a rule that the students were not allowed to speak Wollif in the class, only French was to be spoken. One boy in the class broke the rule and the teacher made a younger boy take a decent sized stick and spank him 4 or 5 times. Corporal punishment to be used in that type of situation is looked down upon in most western cultures. As a viewer of the film I would recommend it to any one who is studying Africa and how western civilization and colonization has affected Africa. This is not a film to watch as entertainment it will be best used for educational purposes.