The movie, Ca Twiste a Popenguine, by Moussa Sene Absa is an interesting observation of the village called Popenguine in Senegal. The movie is in French with English subtitles. Absa successfully and with a light heart humorously portrays the positive and negative effects and influence of Westernism and colonialism in this little community. The elders retain their culture and roots firmly, while the teenagers flirt with the modern dress and music from France and the United States. There are two groups of teenagers represented, the French influenced "Ins" who have girls but no music, and the silly American influenced "Kings" who have music but no girls. The "Ins" show ingenuity in rectifying the situation.
Absa uses local residents of Popenguine, Senegal for his movie, not actors. It is filmed on location by Africans. This works well to provide an authentic setting and to show real people in action. Absa uses a young boy in the movie as narrator to effectively carry us through each event through his eyes. The movie does a good job at endearing its viewers to the characters. A French teacher is in the village to instruct the school children in the French language. He struggles with the feeling that he isn't at home in France or in Senegal. The people in Popenguine show great compassion and affection toward him by serenading him in song in their local Wolof language.
The beginning is a little slow, some scenes went too fast and were difficult to interpret. There is an obvious incorrect jump from a day scene to a night scene with the same event taking place. The local language of Wolof is not spoken as much as I would have liked, and it is not translated. The ending is cute, but abrupt. However, the good aspects of this film far outweigh its shortcomings.
I recommend this film to almost everyone for entertainment, to broaden their knowledge, and to see and experience other cultures. I would not recommend it to people with ethnocentric narrow minds who have no interest in change and no sense of humor.