Ça Twiste à Poponguine is a decent movie that is a pretty good depiction of African life in modern-day Senegal, aside from the lack of professional actors and being low budget. It shows how the children of the village cope with life while having two, sometimes three, different identities. They have their given name at home that is either Arabic or African, their French Colonial name at school and when Monsieur Benoit talks to them in the village, and their American singer name that some of them have picked for themselves. They chose their American names based on the gang that they belong to. The In's listen to singers like Sylvia Vartan and Johnny Hallyday and had two people in their group with those names. The King's listen to singers like Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding and also have two people in their group with those names. Depending on where they are and who they are around, they can act as any of these three identities. They do not seem to have a problem assimilating into the French Colonial culture while still keeping their African heritage.
Monsieur Benoit, however, basically has a breakdown in the middle of the movie. He is the one that is having trouble assimilating into the African culture. He feels like and alien in the village but also feels alien in France. This is similar to how Tambu feels when she goes to the mission in the novel Nervous Condition, by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Tambu is assimilated into French Colonial life on the mission and then begins to feel out of place at the homestead when she returns to see her family. It seems like Monsieur Benoit is having these same reactions to being gone from home for so long and having started to assimilate into the culture of the village. He does not feel like he belongs anywhere and goes on a drunken rant about how they were lucky that France colonized Africa. This actually was confusing to me because the villagers did not get mad. They actually felt sorry for him and helped him to feel like he belonged in the village.
There is also a stark contrast shown between the village of Poponguine and the European resort that is located just up the beach from the village. The village contains run down shacks, dirt roads, hardly any trees, no grass, the rare car here and there, and two white people who are the bartender and Monsieur Benoit. The European resort has trees, grass and shrubbery, umbrellas and lounge chairs on the beach, paved roads, many cars and motorcycles, white people on vacation, seems very upscale and caters to the rich. They also employ many of the people in the village. This scene was placed in the movie to show the extreme differences between the Africa most tourists will see and the Africa that the villagers live in.
This is not a movie I would watch again or would have ever watched if I had not taken an African World Literature class. The movie itself was not bad for the lack of actors, budget and equipment. It did show me a part of the world that I do not normally see nor pay attention to, as sad as that may sound. I do enjoy learning about different parts of the world and I did enjoy watching the movie but I would only watch it in a class.
Monsieur Benoit, however, basically has a breakdown in the middle of the movie. He is the one that is having trouble assimilating into the African culture. He feels like and alien in the village but also feels alien in France. This is similar to how Tambu feels when she goes to the mission in the novel Nervous Condition, by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Tambu is assimilated into French Colonial life on the mission and then begins to feel out of place at the homestead when she returns to see her family. It seems like Monsieur Benoit is having these same reactions to being gone from home for so long and having started to assimilate into the culture of the village. He does not feel like he belongs anywhere and goes on a drunken rant about how they were lucky that France colonized Africa. This actually was confusing to me because the villagers did not get mad. They actually felt sorry for him and helped him to feel like he belonged in the village.
There is also a stark contrast shown between the village of Poponguine and the European resort that is located just up the beach from the village. The village contains run down shacks, dirt roads, hardly any trees, no grass, the rare car here and there, and two white people who are the bartender and Monsieur Benoit. The European resort has trees, grass and shrubbery, umbrellas and lounge chairs on the beach, paved roads, many cars and motorcycles, white people on vacation, seems very upscale and caters to the rich. They also employ many of the people in the village. This scene was placed in the movie to show the extreme differences between the Africa most tourists will see and the Africa that the villagers live in.
This is not a movie I would watch again or would have ever watched if I had not taken an African World Literature class. The movie itself was not bad for the lack of actors, budget and equipment. It did show me a part of the world that I do not normally see nor pay attention to, as sad as that may sound. I do enjoy learning about different parts of the world and I did enjoy watching the movie but I would only watch it in a class.