What starts as a realist and objective documentation of post-imperialist Senegalese society, rapidly apprises the viewer of its wacky formalism, as it increasingly subverts its social realism. It's like a window to the world, veiled by an illusory screen.
The purpose of Touki Bouki's subversions is to construct a recalcitrant critique of the festering remains of French imperialism that stripped the nation of its inherent culture. The cynical display of violence to animals, hyper-masculinity and sexism, and of the desire for a quick and effortless social ascension, underline the film's personal condemnation of its own reality. Its indignation is directed at the fact that seemingly, nothing will ever change.
It's stylistic resemblance to the French New Wave exists as a synecdoche of this lingering influence. The farcical promise of economic liberation by escaping to France is an idyllic and impossible objective for the characters and is conveyed through long, wistful takes of the primordial sea which envelopes Senegal and bars them from the outside world. The characters are mocked by the birds and boats that traverse this incarcerating mass of water with ease and are likened to the livestock which are forcefully tethered to the earth.
Idyllic diaspora is also conveyed in the film's looping soundtrack, which croons "París, París, París" in a romanticized and hypnotic melody to teasingly whisk away these trapped souls. It's use of diegetic sounds in non-diegetic ways (e.g. The foghorn from the boat supplanted in the film's score and irrationally repeating itself) further cement the continued effort of diluting reality through form.
Its plot elements are consistently interrupted by long bouts of experimental montage to mythologize the characters and their plight. Especially effective, are the handheld point-of-view shots, oftentimes mounted to moving objects, mixed in with methodical pans and tilts which switch to an objective vantage point. This construction of style serves to depict counter-hegemonic representations of Blackness (objective) and allows the perspectives of these characters (subjective) to be taken up by the viewer.
Touki Bouki, a piece of accented cinema, was directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty, a brazen auteur responsible for only one other narrative feature (Hyenas), and exists as a semiotic matrix of connotative meanings that make for an enriching and thought provoking example of Third Cinema.
The purpose of Touki Bouki's subversions is to construct a recalcitrant critique of the festering remains of French imperialism that stripped the nation of its inherent culture. The cynical display of violence to animals, hyper-masculinity and sexism, and of the desire for a quick and effortless social ascension, underline the film's personal condemnation of its own reality. Its indignation is directed at the fact that seemingly, nothing will ever change.
It's stylistic resemblance to the French New Wave exists as a synecdoche of this lingering influence. The farcical promise of economic liberation by escaping to France is an idyllic and impossible objective for the characters and is conveyed through long, wistful takes of the primordial sea which envelopes Senegal and bars them from the outside world. The characters are mocked by the birds and boats that traverse this incarcerating mass of water with ease and are likened to the livestock which are forcefully tethered to the earth.
Idyllic diaspora is also conveyed in the film's looping soundtrack, which croons "París, París, París" in a romanticized and hypnotic melody to teasingly whisk away these trapped souls. It's use of diegetic sounds in non-diegetic ways (e.g. The foghorn from the boat supplanted in the film's score and irrationally repeating itself) further cement the continued effort of diluting reality through form.
Its plot elements are consistently interrupted by long bouts of experimental montage to mythologize the characters and their plight. Especially effective, are the handheld point-of-view shots, oftentimes mounted to moving objects, mixed in with methodical pans and tilts which switch to an objective vantage point. This construction of style serves to depict counter-hegemonic representations of Blackness (objective) and allows the perspectives of these characters (subjective) to be taken up by the viewer.
Touki Bouki, a piece of accented cinema, was directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty, a brazen auteur responsible for only one other narrative feature (Hyenas), and exists as a semiotic matrix of connotative meanings that make for an enriching and thought provoking example of Third Cinema.