Accustomed to narrating his native Marseille, even in ‘Una historia de locos’ he had the port city as protagonist in the background, Frenchman Robert Guédiguian leaves his comfort zone with ‘Mali Twist’, presented in the Official Section of the 66th edition of the Valladolid International Film Week, the SEMINCIa love letter to the ideals of socialism in the 1960s and, above all, to Mali, where the country ended up being a victim of its own aspirations and which makes the film an elegy for the entire generation who truly believed that a change it was possible.
The project was born after Guédiguian went to the exhibition dedicated by the Cartier Foundation in Paris to the Malian photographer Malick Sidibé, considered the great chronicler of Mali in the 1960s, which portrayed a young man eager for freedom and who, with great ingenuity, believed in ideals that would end up cutting their illusions, recounting the period from the beginning of the independence of the former French colony to the coup d’état of 1968 , which led to a repressive military dictatorship. Internationally titled as the exhibition that paid tribute to Sibidé, “Mali Twist” is a love letter to those lost ideals buried in unreason.
Despite its political leadership, ‘Mali Twist’ is above all a beautiful period story, which tells the forbidden relationship between Samba and Lara, played by the charming Stéphane Bak and Alice Da Luz, which could be an African response to the tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet”. It is their love condemned to tragedy that exalts this feature, which transforms the Senegalese city of Thiès into the Bamako of the Sixties in a careful environment with which Guédiguian has relied on the talent of the Senegalese industry, since the scenography and the artistic direction have been provided by Mahamoudou Papa Kouyaté and Oumar Sall.
This passion would not have been possible without its two charming protagonists. Model Alice Da Luz shines for a fragile-looking character but with exceptional inner strength, displaying gorgeous dramatic weight. At his side is one of the great promises of French cinema, Stéphane Bak, who has already worked with Paul Verhoeven, Wes Anderson and André Téchiné and who has already shown that he is capable of defending the protagonists of ‘Tokyo Shaking’. In “Mali Twist”, Bak is the clear representation of how ideals are devoured by dogmatism and how Mali has changed only one king for anotherceasing to be a colony of France and becoming a dependent state of the former Soviet Union.
A beautiful and tragic love story
Here you can see that the film exudes a certain bitterness, proving it Guédiguian, who co-wrote the script with Gilles Taurand, is aware of how socialist ideals were devoured by Communist dictatorships in the middle of the Cold Warleaving a certain rough feel, revealing how these once-upon-a-time ideas were impossible to apply.
Although he unleashes a certain bitterness for the fall of ideals, in this sense it can be said that Guédiguian signs his own ‘Porco Rosso’, frontally representing the breaking of an impossible dream; ‘Mali Twist’ is above all a beautiful romantic serenade, a bolero full of music, which recounted those happy years in which, for a fleeting moment, all young people dreamed of a different country. A portrait that also leaves the residue of how Western countries have looked at their former colonies from the other side and that explains, in part, the impossible situation of a continent that is experiencing a continuous food, health, political and social crisis. .
After the setback caused by “Gloria Mundi”, it suits Guédiguian to pay homage to his ideals outside his native Marseille. On the other hand, it is a heartfelt tribute to that piece of history that seemed destined for oblivion and thanks to both the director and the chronicler Malick Sidibé, that last turning point that made an entire generation dream is engraved in the memory.
Note: 7
The best: The alchemy that Stéphane Bak and Alice Da Luz transmit, being able to see the technical and artistic potential of the Senegalese industry, one of the most promising on the African continent.
Worse: Guédiguian does not conclude the criticisms, especially in his epilogue. Furthermore, it could be said that it causes a certain contradiction in his message.
Source: E Cartelera
