Contras' City

In his first short film, Mambéty sensitively, imaginatively and puckishly captures the series of contrasts that would define the tumultuous social and ideological climate that would explode in Senegal in 1968. Faced with the opulent French influence that continued to dominate the cultural presence of a nation that recently became independent, it was inevitable that the diversity of identities present in the city would open fissures in the remains of colonialism. A conversation between a Senegalese man (the director, Djibril Diop Mambéty) and a French woman, Inge Hirschnitz. As we travel through the city in a picturesque horse drawn wagon, we chaotically rush into this and that popular neighborhood of the capital. Architecture, sound and languages meet in continuous collision, and the o≠-screen dialogue that drives this docudrama satirizes the astonished and condescending French vision of the Senegalese landscape.