I really enjoyed “Touki Bouki” for Djibril Diop Mambéty’s surreal style and because of his cinema influences, may it be French Nouvelle or even Neo-Realism, the film is non-traditional and different from other contemporaries of Francophone African cinema and is no doubt an important, classic film that will hopefully benefit from the exposure it will get from its HD release. Highly recommended!
Image courtesy of © 2013 The Criterion Collection All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Touki Bouki (as part of “Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project”) – The Criterion Collection #685
RELEASE OF FILM: 1973
DURATION: 89 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 1:37:1 aspect ratio, Color, Monaural, in Wolof with English subtitles
COMPANY: Janus Films/The Film Foundation/World Cinema Project/The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: December 10, 2013
Written and Directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty
Produced by Djibril Diop Mambéty
Assistant Producer: Medoune Faye
Cinematography by Georges Bracher
Starring:
Magaye Niang as Mory
Mareme Niang as Anta
Aminata Fall as Aunt Oumy
Ousseynou Diop as Charlie
TOUKI BOUKI With a stunning mix of the surreal and the naturalistic, Djibril Diop Mambéty paints a vivid, fractured portrait of Senegal in the early 1970s. In this French New Wave–influenced fantasy-drama, two young lovers long to leave Dakar for the glamour and comforts of Europe, but their escape plan is beset by complications both concrete and mystical. Marked by dazzling imagery and music, the alternately manic and meditative Touki bouki is widely admired as one of the most important African films ever made.
In 1973, Sengalese film director Djibril Diop Mambéty directed “Touki Bouki” (which is Wolof for “The Journey of the Hyena”), a film that was shown at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and would receive the International Critics Award. Also, to receive a Special Jury Award at the Moscow Film Festival.
While Mambéty only made a few films during his lifetime, each would receive critical acclaim and “Touki Bouki” would introduce Senegal filmmaking to the world.
Influenced by films from the French New Wave and created with a budget of $30,000 (which was obtained by the Senegalese government), Mambéty’s film would receive restoration courtesy of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project, an organization with a goal to preserve and present marginalized and infrequently screened films from regions generally ill equipped to preserve their own cinema history.
And so the film was restored in 2008 at Cineteca di Bologna / L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory by the World Cinema Foundation and will be included in the Blu-ray+DVD combo box set “Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project” to be released by the Criterion Collection in Dec. 2013.
“Touki Bouki” begins by introducing audiences to the hybridization of Senegal. We see a scene of a child riding a cow guiding a herd of cows, while we are introduced to Mory (portrayed by Magaye Niang), riding his motorcycle with the skull of a horned cow. Meanwhile, we are treated to a bloody scene of cattle taken to a slaughterhouse as one cow has its throat slit and nearly decapitated.
We are then introduced to Anta (portrayed by Mareme Niang), a female student who dresses up on her way to university. Her mother and others from their village don’t see why Anta dresses unlike other people from the village and think that her studying at the university is a waste of time.
We are treated to more visual scenery of a more modern Senegal versus a more traditional Senegal, those who dress up in designer clothing, drive vehicles, while those from Anta’s village are seen washing their clothes at a lake, carrying buckets of water on top of their heads and selling vegetables through the village.
As Mory goes to pick Anta up at the University, male students who know her are upset that she has been missing their pro-revolutionary meetings due to Mory and start to make fun of him because he rides a motorcycle with a horned cow skull on his motorcycle and rides it with a rope lasso. The students bully and eventually beat him and drive around the city with Mory tied to the back of their truck with his horned cow skull.
As Anta is seen walking and passing by his Aunt Oumy (portrayed by Aminata Fall), she is slitting a goat’s neck and jokes that Mory was pushed off a cliff. When she goes to the cliff area overlooking the ocean, we see her undressing and we see images of waves crashing through the rocks and realize that she and and Mory have made love.
Both Mory and Anta talk about their dreams of leaving Dakar and going to Paris where they would have a better life and both feel the must raise money in order to go to Paris. While Mory feels that money and going to Paris will eventually change his life and those in Dakar will eventually respect him as money means power.
So, Anta joins Mory as he concocts various schemes to make money. Will these two have their dreams of leaving Dakar to live in France for a better life come true?
VIDEO:
“Touki Bouki” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:37:1 aspect ratio). For this 1973 film, the restoration by the World Cinema Project is fantastic as there are no major blemishes. There is a good amount of grain and colors look natural, detail on the skin of various people during close up scenes is quite evident and I saw no major damage.
According to the Criterion Collection, “Touki Bouki” was “created in 2K resolution on an ARRISCAN film scanner from the original 35 mm camera and sound negatives, which were provided by the director’s son Teemour Diop Mambety and preserved at the GTC in Paris. The digital restoration process of a new 35 mm internegative for long-term preservation. Restoration was completed in May 2008.”
AUDIO:
“Touki Bouki” is presented in Wolof LPCM 1.0 with English subtitles. Dialogue is clear and I didn’t notice any hiss, crackle or any major issues during my viewing of the film.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Touki Bouki (as part of “Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project”) – The Criterion Collection #685″ comes with the following special features:
- Martin Scorsese – (2:16) Filmmaker Martin Scorsese talks about watching “Touki Bouki”.
- Abderrahmane Sissako – (11:56) A Criterion Collection 2013 exclusive featuring Filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako discusses “Touki Bouki” and his appreciation for filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty.
EXTRAS:
“Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project – The Criterion Collection #685-690″ comes with a 66-page booklet featuring the following essays: “Recalled to Life” a foreword by Kent Jones, “Mambety and Modernity” by Richard Porton on “Touki Bouki”, “El cine mexicano” by Charles Ramirez on “Redes”, “River of No Return” by Adrian Martin on “A River Called Titas”, “The Law of Nature” by Bilge Ebiri on “Dry Summer”, “Power to the People” by Sally Shafto on “Trances” and “Crossing Borders” by Kyung Hyun Kim on “The Housemaid”. Each Blu-ray and DVD are housed in cases that come with a slipcase.
Djibril Diop Mambéty’s masterpiece “Touki Bouki” received the World Cinema Project’s care in having the film restored and also receiving exposure for a new generation of cineaste courtesy of the Criterion Collection’s “Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project” Blu-ray+DVD Box Set.
And while the film was created back in 1973, the film still manages to be relevant to today’s viewers because whether or not you were born in a country and become passionate for another, there are always thoughts in your mind of wanting to move to another country and get away, in hopes that it’s better than the life you have had in the country that you live in.
And it may not just apply to another country but also another state or location. Many people have had those feelings before.
And for Mory and Anta, the story of these two characters who are educated but are stuck in the middle due to the hybridization of Senegal. Wanting a better life and for these two, seeing France as a form of elegance, wealth and power. Where the earliest forms of commercialism have started to become noticeable to those in Dakar, from the big buildings, the flashy clothing, the expensive cars, of course it will become noticed to those without money, especially those who were born in villages that have not accepted modern living practices.
So for Mory and Anta, they just want to be different and live differently in another country. And as songs such as “Paris, Paris, Paris” plays in the background and the two concoct schemes to make money in order to travel and leave Senegal to Paris, there is one side of having the dream of having a better life and moving, while others find out through reality that moving to another country is not going to solve one’s problems, in fact, it may just add another problem to one’s life.
For example, in another Criterion Collection released film, “El Norte”, the film focuses on two illegal immigrants from South America who go to Mexico and risk crossing the border to America to start a whole new life. But they quickly learn that the land of opportunity that they have heard so much about, may have been a pipe dream as they don’t fit into the equation of being accepted by Americans and finding a great paying job.
I have seen family and friends from other countries who came to the US hoping for a better lifestyle and while those who have worked hard to create a business and success in America, usually tend to manage. Others who don’t speak English, have difficulties with communication tend to have a rougher time.
Even myself who studied Japanese, worked with major Japanese companies know that I can travel to Japan, but as far as living, I know the reality that life is not going to be so easy unless I become fluent but even then, getting a great paying job is not definite. And just fitting in, blending in, is not going to be easy because I would always be looked at as a foreigner.
And so I look at Mory and Anta’s story of two people having the dream of what they think Paris will bring to them, is more of two young adults wanting something different out of life and leaving home because life may be much better somewhere else other than their current home.
Is this a reflection of filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty? If there is one thing in his career that is constant, its to provoke the viewer to re-evaluate their thoughts of life and to re-evaluate their thoughts of life but also to reevaluate traditional and modern Africa and how European culture introduced hybridity to society.
Using surreal imagery and his inspiration from the French New Wave, “Touki Bouki” is a film that manages to incorporate griotic tradition of tribal storytelling while incorporating avante-garde techniques and with his films, to reinvent cinema.
There is no doubt a heavy use of symbolism throughout the film. Quite often we are shown images of cows/bulls and seeing them slaughtered, while we see Mory riding his motorcycle with the horned bull skull and seeing what possibly is him as a child riding a bull to lead the cowherd, there is no doubt that despite Mory’s talking of wanting to leave Dakar, he is different from others in the film who have accepted modernism. He’s more of a person that is not just wanting to accept modernism to make a drastic change of lifestyle. His roots were in the country not a man of privilege, not a man of education. What he is after is a dream perpetuated by commercialism and what people perceive from the French as having a better life because in his mind, having money easily equates to great life.
Anta on the other hand is a person who is educated as she is attending college, but her roots are similar to Mory. And her motivation of wanting to go to Paris, is mainly to follow Mory of where he wants to go because she is in love with him and she will follow his lead.
But I really enjoyed “Touki Bouki” for Djibril Diop Mambéty’s surreal style and because of his cinema influences, may it be French Nouvelle or even Neo-Realism, the film is non-traditional and different from other contemporaries of Francophone African cinema and is no doubt an important, classic film that will hopefully benefit from the exposure it will get from its HD release.
And I hope with Mambéty’s inclusion in the “Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project” Blu-ray+DVD combo set may mean more cinematic releases of his films on Blu-ray.
“Touki Douki” is a fantastic film to be included in “Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project” and a film that I highly recommend!
