Rocking Popenguine / Poponguine = Ça twiste à Poponguine
Barcode: 58963759
Call Number: V-FRE 256
Material Type: Video -DVD
Time: 95 min.
Date: 1994
System Requirements: All regions
Language: French
Creator: Directed by Moussa Sene Absa
Description: Director Moussa Sene Absa's comedy is set during the weeks before Christmas, 1964, in a seaside village, where the local teenagers are divided into rival cultural camps. The "Ins" (or Inseparables) have adopted the names of French pop stars - Johnny Halliday, Sylvie Vartan, "Clo Clo" and Eddie Mitchell. Their clique attends school, has a female auxiliary, exchanges fervent love poetry - but they don't own a record player. The Kings, on the other hand, style themselves after African American Rhythm and Blues legends - Otis Redding, Ray Charles and James Brown. They work as fishermen, don't have any girls but they do have a record player.
The story of their rivalry is told through the memories of Bacc, a husky-voiced, street-smart little boy who acts as a messenger for the older kids. Abandoned by his father and mother, he's been adopted by the whole village. His grandmother, Madame Castiloor, the keeper of the local tales, predicts: "Someday you too will be a storyteller, who will make Africa famous throughout the world."
Her counterpart is M. Benoit, the gruff but well-loved, French teacher, who continues to propagate French culture in the post-colonial period. He makes his students memorize the fables of Jean de la Fontaine and paddles anyone who speaks anything but French in class.
Collection: Language Resource Center