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Touki Bouki

Touki Bouki is a picaresque tale of Mary and Anta, African cousins of outlaw couples such as Bonnie and Clyde. Desperate to escape the raucous shanty town where they live, they dream of winning wealth and power in France. They lead us on an exhilarating chase through Dakar as they try gambling, stealing and prostitution to get the money for the passage. At the last moment Mary bolts from the liner, suddenly aware that Western consumer culture is just another trap. Touki Bouki, with its jump cuts, casual mixing of fantasy and reality, subversive blend of humour and pathos, has an exuberance reminiscent of French New Wave at its best. The film reveals an Africa confronting a seemingly inevitable modernity, where Western materialism is sweeping aside all traditional ties and values.

Dir Djibril Diop Mambety Senegal 1973/ 85 min