Hyenas (1992)

Dramaan is the most popular man in Colobane, but when a woman from his past, now exorbitantly wealthy, returns to the town, things begin to change.

Director:

Djibril Diop Mambéty

Writers:

Djibril Diop Mambéty (screenplay), Friedrich Dürrenmatt (play)

Stars:

Mansour Diouf, Ami Diakhate, Faly Gueye

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Mansour Diouf	...	Draman Drameh
Ami Diakhate	...	Linguère Ramatou
Faly Gueye	...	Mme Drameh
Mamadou Mahourédia Gueye	...	Le maire / The mayor (as Mahouredia Gueye)
Omar Ba	...	Le chef fu protocole / Chief of protocol (as Baye Peulh)
Issa Samb	...	Le professeur / The professor (as Issa Ramagelissa Samb)
Calgou Fall	...	Le prêtre / The priest
Kaoru Egushi	...	Toko
Djibril Diop Mambéty	...	Le juge / The judge
Mbaba Diop	...	Le seigneur de la plume / Lord of the feather
Abdoulaye Diop	...	Le médecin / The doctor
Rama Thiaw	...	La femme du maire / Mayor's wife
Oumi Samb	...	La danseuse / Dancer (as Oumy Samb)
Tcheley Hanny	...	Amazone / Horse woman (as Hanny Tchelley)

Storyline

A once-prosperous Senegalese village has been falling further into poverty year by year until the village's elders are reduced to selling town possessions to pay debts. Linguère, a former resident and local beauty, now very rich, returns to this, the village of her birth. The elders hope that she will be a benefactor to the village. To encourage her generosity, they appoint a local grocer, Dramaan, as mayor--who once courted her and will now try to persuade her to help. In fact, Linguère has returned with the intention of sharing her millions with the village but only in return for an unexpected action. This plot twist brings human folly and cynicism into sharp focus.

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Plot Keywords:

grocer | wealth | train station | tragic event | spinster | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Connections

Version of A Visita da Velha Senhora (1994)

User Reviews

The root of all evil

After the twenty-year period of silence following the success of 'Touki Bouki', Mambéty's second film gives its satire a more analytical frame. The quasi-allegorical narrative structure explores the relation of past to present within a specifically-though exaggerated-political frame; its events are specifically set in a collective context, where the continuing legacy of imperialism as it effects relations gendered, sexual and economic relations in the (post)colony. Returning to her village as a fabulously wealthy citizen, for whom wealth is also index of damage, literal prosthesis-the arm made of gold!- Linguère Ramatou is something like 'Touki Bouki's' Anta some decades on, returned to take revenge on Dramaan Drameh, the man who abandoned her and has since taken up a role as a comfortable, well-liked bar owner-and a kind of de facto, unofficial mayor-within the still impoverished town. The devil's bargain-that her wealth will be that of the village if they execute him-is not only index of personal revenge, a kind of just deserts for the past sins of patriarch-Drameh paid false witnesses to testify that he was not the father of her child, leading her to be driven out of town and to a career as a sex worker-but of the inhuman and dehumanising bargains of global capital, the mendacious ways in which continuing underdevelopment and the power relations of the centre-periphery relation structure the life it's possible to live. Ramatou simply serves as the agent of the ways in which collectives are divided-whether by the structures of gendered power relations or by the 'hyena-like' rapaciousness the promise of money brings. Such economic structures rely on the mythic realities that any dream can be bought, and that its fulfilment will invariably come at the expense of others. Through a satirical broad-brush, Mambéty seeks to make such bargains specific, rather than the abstract underlay of virtually every human interaction; it makes a vivid and convincing case whose laughs have the sting of accuracy.

Details

Official Sites:

Metrograph (English) Swiss Films page

Country:

Switzerland France Senegal UK Netherlands Italy

Language:

Wolof French Japanese

Release Date:

26 April 2019 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hyènes

Filming Locations:

Senegal

Box Office

Gross USA:

$24,672

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$24,672

Company Credits

Production Co:

Thelma Film AG, ADR Productions, Maag Daan

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1