Touki Bouki (1973)

There's a lot going on in this movie--including even a plot. But it's hard to make any sense of it. You have to give the filmmaker and actors the benefit of the doubt. It's so excellently shot technically and everyone seems to be having such fun, it very likely is the exact movie that the cast and crew intended to make. But the overall impression is of a self-indulgent farce in which we the viewers are not in on the joke.Even taken as a superficial jumble of beautiful, technically perfect images--and that's pretty much what I was able to take away from this movie--the film is a letdown because it could have been so much more fresh, satirical, and fun than it is.

I recently showed this film to a group of students so what follows is a condensed version of the worksheet I gave them. The questions I give hopefully can assist others in making meaning from the film.Touki Bouki can best be made sense of in the following way: It operates through allusion and symbolism. Through the story of two young lovers, Mory and Fanta, clashing with the older generation, yearning to leave for Paris, Mambety puts on screen his vision of a country where the weight of thousands of years of tradition collides head on with the modernity of a newly emergent Senegal.Allusion...an implied or indirect reference hinting at something Symbol...something that stands for something else...something concrete that represents or suggests another thing that cannot in itself be represented or visualised...for example a lion symbolises courageThink about what you have seen (and heard!) in the film, paying special attention to: Mory's motorbike – what is it decorated with? What do those objects remind you of? Fanta ties it to a tree, in the midst of a herd of cows...is there a connection to the cows? The long scene in the first half of the film, when there are lots of shots of the sea, then we see Mory and Fanta together on the cliffs talking about leaving for FranceThe transformation of the Aunt from an unsympathetic character in the first half of the film to a praise singer in the second.Charlie's car which Mory and Fanta ride off in after robbing him is a Citroen painted in the flag of which country? How is it positioned in relation to the motorbike and the welcomers?1. How do you think the following things are alluded to in the film?The act of lovemaking The city of Paris The cycles of life – birth, death, birth2. How do you think the following things are symbolised in the film?African tradition African modernity – this film is made soon after Senegal gained independence The ties which hold us, such as family, friends, our familiar environment Colonial power The primitiveOther points to consider...Mambety inserts documentary footage from actual events, such as the women at the well, a wrestling competition, street children and a Presidential motorcade, into a fiction film. Do these scenes have anything to do with the story? What effect do they have on you, the viewer? What's your response to them? Why might they be in the film?Certain images and sounds are repeated in the film, such as the ocean, the crows, the cries of the taxi driver who runs away from the box then repeated by the caveman. What effect does this have? Does it 'organize' the film in any way?Answers... Mory's motorbike symbolizes Africa, in the scene after they ve robbed Charlie, it s positioned in such a way against the Citroen that the two seem oppositional. The Citroen is a French car decorated with the US flag stars and stripes so representing both French colonialism and US imperialism. The sea is a symbol for lovemaking. The cycles of nature are implied in the scenes of cattle slaughter and goat being sacrificed. Fanta ties the motorbike up as if shes trying to hold at bay the forces of modernity, of change. is the film trying to reconcile two opposing aspects, yearning for the past and tradition while simultaneously embracing modernity, the new? Whose the weird, white looking caveman up in the tree? Its as if Mambety shoves our images of 'primitive' Africans back in faces, also in the dream sequence when Mory and Fanta sit in the car, dressed in 1930s clothes smoking, being sung praises by Aminata Fal is a parody of successful Europeans. There's so much I d love to write about this film...Paris is reduced to a notion, an idea, a fantasy, brought to life through a clichéd song by Josephine Baker. On another level I read Touki Bouki as being about how Europe positions Africa and Africa positions Europe as exotic other. I m running out of space here, loads I could write about this film, hope this is useful, ENJOY!

Disorienting and at times even a bit schizophrenic, this is an extraordinarily vibrant, pulsating, and eccentric film. Comparisons to the anarchic, jumpy, free-associative style of the French New Wavers are not far off, but there's something much more erotic and carnal in the film's playfulness.The story of self-assured college beauty Anta and her fella - Mory the motorcycle-riding herdsman - starts in Dakar and wistfully wanders toward Paris, the seemingly unattainable city of their dreams. Their get-rich-quick schemes and the breezy, colorful manner in which they unfold are funny and inspired.Along the way, there are sequences of both utter hilarity and genuine depth, although the film does sometimes seem unsure of its many potentially-symbolic representations. But the stylistic narrative and experimental technical aspects are so full of ideas that talk of the film's minor weaknesses seems trivial.The soundtrack is outstanding, full of syncopation and polyrhythms pacing the film and giving a rich texture to the images. And there's constant movement, until the film's denouement where character, story, camera and concept fuse together in common paralysis, where all seems frozen in reflection.

First, I didn't like the movie because I felt I wasn't able to enjoy it really. It made the impression of a TV documentary on how livestock is mistreated in Western Africa.Then, by quite confusingly repeating a scene scored by somewhat mystical pop music, the film turned to the other extreme and made me consider it over-sybolistic.Then, finally, the actual story began, and I could figure out various things. I could separate dream from reality, although this was not so easy, and I thought the film was too clichéd at some moments (e. g. the fat gay man, who was charming but a little camp).Now that the film is over and I thought back to it I believe it is not at all a bad movie. Many discontinuities and an unusual narrative style are something we should welcome. Regarding the images and colours it is a wonderful piece of work. The film seems like brilliant illustration of an average story.