One of the most famous movies to come from Senegal, Djibril Diop Mambéty's "Touki Bouki" focuses on a man and woman with aims of moving to Paris and willing to do pretty much anything to make the voyage. Much of the movie shows the different facets of people's lives in Senegal, with lingering elements of colonialism (notably the ads for Pepsi and IBM on buildings).
I first learned of Mambéty from his 1992 movie "Hyenas", an adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play "The Visit", which was an allegory for the rise of Nazism in Germany. "Hyenas" was apparently intended as a sequel of sorts to "Touki Bouki"; to be certain, they were Mambéty's only feature films (he died in 1998). Whatever the case, both movies give us perceptive looks at Senegal; it's not often that we get to see that country.
All in all, it's one of the most interesting movies that I've ever seen. Definitely more worth seeing than any movie whose plot is two hours of explosions and car chases.
I first learned of Mambéty from his 1992 movie "Hyenas", an adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play "The Visit", which was an allegory for the rise of Nazism in Germany. "Hyenas" was apparently intended as a sequel of sorts to "Touki Bouki"; to be certain, they were Mambéty's only feature films (he died in 1998). Whatever the case, both movies give us perceptive looks at Senegal; it's not often that we get to see that country.
All in all, it's one of the most interesting movies that I've ever seen. Definitely more worth seeing than any movie whose plot is two hours of explosions and car chases.