Rocking Poponguine (1994)
"Twist à Popenguine" (original title)

Director:

Moussa Sene Absa

Writer:

Moussa Sene Absa

Stars:

Coura Ba, Jean-François Balmer, Ousmane Bo

Cast

Credited cast:
Coura Ba	...	Sylvie Vartan
Jean-François Balmer	...	M. Benoit
Ousmane Bo	...	Johnny Hallyday
Abou Camara	...	El Hadj Gora
Abdoulaye Diop Danny	...	Jabeel
Mansour Diouf
Marieme Fall	...	Sheila
Patrice Nassalang	...	Clo Clo
Isseu Niang	...	Dame Castilor
Ismael Thiam	...	Baac

Storyline

Details

Country:

Senegal France

Language:

French

Also Known As:

Rocking Poponguine

Company Credits

Production Co:

Caméras Continentales

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

User Reviews

Coming of Age Story

The film Ça Twiste á Popenguine focuses on the town of Popenguine. The main characters in the film are teenagers who are part of two different clicks, The Inseparables and the Kings. The Kings have the only record player that the town has, but do not have any girls. The Inseparables have no record player, but they have girls. The two groups have rejected most of their families' traditional values and have adopted a more western culture. They wear clothing that are more of a Western style and listen to western music, artists such as Jimi Hendrix.

The movie focuses around these two groups and their day to day activities. The Inseparables spend their days looking for ways to make money to use towards acquisition of a record player. They organize multiple gatherings and puppet shows, which are referred to as Pitchoss, as well as parties in which they attempt to charge for entrance, and only succeed a few times in making money. They also get into trouble with the adults in the town usually resulting from one of their projects not going as planned.

This movie is a coming of age story and it has the same overlying theme of many American movies that are of this genre. There were a few flaws in the story line, a few continuity issues as well as the movie becoming long and drawn out at times. Even with the language and cultural differences, the movie keeps your attention. If you are a fan of the coming of age genre you will enjoy this movie, even with some of the slow and lengthy parts. Much of the success of the story comes from the director using actual people from the village of Popenguine. This makes this story that much more believable and that much better.