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mayertn
Reviews
Kirikou et la sorcière (1998)
Not an Average Hero
Kirikou is a different film than we are used to. Even though it is a cartoon, it is not a cartoon for children. The only reason this film cannot be considered a child relatable film is because all of the women are topless. Other than that, the story line is quite child friendly. This film tells the story of a baby named Kirikou, and his journey in defeating the evil sorceress, Karaba. Kirikou is courageous in many ways: he is brave, he loves his mother, he takes care of the village, and he is optimistic. We see many of these qualities in our European films, however, nine times out of ten, in European films, the mother is either dead or never around. Kirikou seeks help from his mother to defeat Karaba.
Karaba is portrayed as evil throughout most of the film. At the beginning she is viewed evil because she is a sorceress and has done many evil things but towards the end you find out she is not evil at all, she is in pain. Kirikou finds the source of her pain and relieves her from it, since her pain is gone so is her power, a small sacrifice for the elimination of monumental pain. She did however, turn all the men into evil machines and take the village's gold, and the villagers cannot forgive her for these evil actions. After Kirikou explains she did not do any of these evil tasks, his mother supports then his grandfather comes to speak his words of wisdom and tells us the moral of the story: we must forgive.
This story is like a reverse princess and the frog. The frog must learn a moral lesson that beauty lies within, whereas in this story Karaba learns a man is a man based on his actions not his size. Kirikou solves many problems to bring peace back to his village, but his family solves the final problem in showing Karaba is not evil. Thus showing it is possible to forgive even though they had suffered so greatly.
I personally really liked this film. I thought it was very entertaining and not difficult to understand. Having the option to watch it without subtitles also made it easier to understand. Even though the film was a cartoon and had very many childlike qualities, I still would only recommend this film to a mature audience. As previously stated it is mildly graphic since it shows half naked women.
Twist à Popenguine (1994)
A Sense of Belonging
In the film Ca Twiste a Popenguine a young boy, Bacc, tells his life story in Senegal. The dream for all the students in his school is to get lost in the city, possibly Paris, just as his mother had. Everyone is his village speaks French. The language is portrayed positively throughout the film because it is spoken by everyone even though there is the fear they are losing site of their own culture with the adoption of the French language. French education is also portrayed positively because it allows the students to prepare to go to Paris and get lost in the city to get a job and become rich.
Concepts are quite different in Senegal than we are used to here in America. All of the children have two names, one being the pop music name they picked out themselves based on their social class and the other being their given name. Their given name is either French or Arabic and is used when they are in school. Music plays a very important role in this film, not just a way children can classify themselves by name. Each type of music is listened to by a different social class: Senegalese, French, and American. Children who listen to American music have American pop names and French music listeners have French pop names.
Their teacher, Monsieur Benoit, is the European that supplies these children with their French education. Monsieur Benoit, however, has a problem. He doesn't know where he feels more alien: Senegal or France. He is a man stuck between two cultures. It's ironic he feels this way because France is colonizing Senegal and the European feels the outsider of his culture instead of the Africans. The village lets him know they love and honor him as a part of their culture. They sing to him to assure him of their affection. This shows belonging isn't about where you are, but the people you are with. The village stands together and protects everyone in it, especially the children. The Africans don't look at the colonization as a bad thing. They are still able to keep their culture and build off of the French culture. This film is not sad in the slightest. The ending is happy because everyone ends up where they want to be. Monsieur Benoit gains his sense of belonging in Senegal and Bacc as well as many of the other children move to the city. The two cultures are mashed together. Modernization is introduced to the Senegal culture without destroying it. There wasn't a huge crisis due to modernization as there is in other cultures.
This film felt real, there wasn't really a huge problem that everyone had to overcome that gave an all or nothing result. It was more of a change is in our midst scenario and instead of choosing one culture over the other everything just meshed together and happened. It does not follow the typical linear story we are used to.