Twist à Popenguine

Ça Twiste á Popenguine is a film that educated, entertained me, and warmed my heart. The story is based on two gangs in Popenguine, Senegal. As the film progresses, it shows the different languages that are spoken in Africa as well as romance between young characters. The film also integrated a lot of humor into its story with its young romances and wardrobe choices for some of the gang members. The director shows the colonization in Senegal and how the people are being influences by America and France. The film does a fine job at showing us that the Africans have much to offer just as the Europeans do. Africans may lack the education and language barriers but they thrive in the love for their culture and people. The film brings enjoyment to the audience when the school's French teacher, Mr. Benoit, is finally connecting with the African culture. This is shown through the people of Senegal singing to him and bringing them into their land completely. It very much reminded me of James Cameron's Avatar where the people of Pandora invite the outside, Jake Sully, into their land and show him not to be afraid. The feeling I got from Avatar was similar to the feeling I got while watching this film. The people of Pandora seem scary to Jake Sully, until he is shown their land and ways of life. He soon realizes their love for culture and that same realization is brought to Mr. Benoit.

The film showed how strong their traditions were through music, dance, and religion. After watching how they lived their lives, it made me feel nostalgic for a culture I've never had. A culture that is so full of happiness and old tradition is something I think a lot of cultures lack. This film inspired me, made me laugh, and educated me on the traditions of Africa and Colonization. The film shows some hardships but with added humor. The film sheds a positive light on the people of Africa and I highly recommend the film!

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.

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 directed by Moussa Sene Absa. The film was directed in Senegal in 1993. The genre in the film is comedy. The main characters in the movie are just locals from Senegal where the movie was filmed. The major character is Baac whom the story is told by. In addition, the Ins and Kings are main groups in the film. The film takes place weeks before Christmas in a small seaside town in Senegal in 1964. The entire movie is based around the teenagers where they go to school, work, and try to put together a party. During the school the teens are forbidden to talk in Wolof (their main language) because in this era French is what is being taught and forced. Baac is the main story teller of the film where he takes love letters and runs other errands for the older teens. During the film the Ins whom have the ladies want to throw a surprise party, but have no record player. In the end when everything is going good they get into trouble by the older tradition that still follow the old African culture. The message Moussa Sene Absa is trying to push is the coming of age. The point of the story is to show the coming-of-age through the use of the teenagers in the village. For instance, the story shows two different African cultures through the old generation who follow the traditional and the young teens that follow the new era. He wants to show how the future is in the teens hands. In addition, why beat someone for being different for that is why we have diversity and what keeps the world unique. I would recommend this film for someone interested in Senegal or the non-western point of view. However, I would not recommend it if you do not like captions because the entire movie is in captions.

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.