Change Your Image
rajaour
Reviews
Twist à Popenguine (1994)
A beautiful film about adolescence in the Senegal of the 1960's and about young people caught between the world of tradition and the world of the modern.
This film is entertaining - certainly the beautiful and haunting song of Isseu Niang is worth the price of admission. Everyone will enjoy this film as they watch it, and then will think seriously about its consequences.
But the film is also about coming of age as the world of tradition gives way grudgingly to the world of the modern. The imagery of the teenagers 'stealing' electric power from the mosque for their party, the traditional silhouette puppet theater of the Wolof nation in which African and European themes are confused, and the 'Kings' (fans of American pop music) and the 'Ins' (fans of French pop music) vie against each other all form a theme that goes beyond the frontiers of Senegal and beyond the coasts of Africa.
"Twist à Popenguine" offers an amusing view of cultural conflict and generational conflict, but also the gradual and sad loss of a heritage.