52 Pick-Up # 32 – Mandabi (1968)

Back already?
 

Sorry. Had to. Like I said before, this is on me.

Anyway, welcome back to 52 Pick-Up as I work on getting caught up for the month of August now that things are winding down for the season.

Like I said last time, thanks to the will of shuffle, we're going in a different direction from last week. A different time, a different place, a different language.

But, the quality remains good, if slightly less feel good compared to last time. That's colonialism for you.

As promised before, this time I'm coming back to the films of Ousmane Sembène for the first time since watching Black Girl for the first time several years back. This time, in his follow up movie, he takes a bit more of a comedic tone, but his view of colonization is no less favorable in Mandabi.

In going into the pitch for this, I'll start with a quick note – the title of this movie translates to 'The Money Order.' The titular order being received by one Ibrahima (Makhourédia Guèye), a proud patriarch to two wives and seven children. The order comes from his his nephew working abroad, sending 25,000 francs he has earned to be divided among the family. Things are looking up for Ibrahima and his clan – until he goes to cash it and finds he's being declined because he lacks valid identification (and to add complications to getting one, he is illiterate). What follows is a bureaucratic labyrinth as Ibrahima tries to get all his paperwork in order so he can get the money order cashed before too much time passes and the money goes back to his nephew. All the while dealing with various debts being either called in or accumulating as he tries to get this all sorted out and settled up.

Why yes, this DID feel more than a little sadly familiar over half a century and half a world away, but that wasn't really the intent of the movie, so I will defer there.

There's a number of things this movie is commenting on, but in particular the way Sembène frames postcolonial Senegal here was the one that really hit me. Like last entry, this gave me something of a compare and contrast feeling, but in this case it was to Sembène's earlier movie, Black Girl. The similarity is, admittedly, more in the broad strokes already stated, this is definitely commenting on the impact of how colonialism has effected Senegal and the people there. The big differences come in how it's presented here.

For starters, Ibrahima is a different sort of focus compared to Diouana. Where she is taken out of her element and on the short end of the power dynamics, Ibrahima comes into this in more of a position of relative power. He even seems aware of this himself, as a recurring element of his character is in how he postures and adjusts his robes. This is a man who's used to calling the shots within his walk of life, and even moreso with the prospect of the financial windfall to come. Despite having more going for him, Ibrahima isn't any luckier when the dust settles. Diouana is left isolated and ultimately crushed by a world that is uncaring and unfamiliar. Ibrahima, meanwhile, watches as the world he's been so confident in is ultimately twisted against him as he finds himself repeatedly being out done by pencil pushers, debt collectors, and ultimately his own nephew (not the same nephew as before).

In Ibrahima's case, it's hard not to see the influence of France's colonization in his misery. Yes, it technically provided the initial good fortune as it was his nephew working in France that saved up the money, but it's also their systems that we see bogging everything down in bureaucracy at every turn. It's their influence we see in moments like Ibrahima watching government workers discussing the merits of living on credit bolstered by other credit. It's even that colonial influence in the form of nephew Mbaye, dressed in stylish European attire, who ultimately swindles his uncle.

By the end, I was still feeling the compare and contrast, particularly in the ways both of these movies, whether expressly or just as a result of how they're presented, seem to be targeting part of their message specifically at the colonial element of the audience. In the case of Black Girl, it came across as more explicitly damning – a reminder that some money or an apology can't undo lives destroyed by careless or outright malicious intentions of colonial power. In the case of Mandabi, it reads less as a 'this isn't something you can magically wipe away' and more presenting this morass of bureaucracy, debt hustling, usury and straight up 'everyone for themselves' betrayal and seeming to ask 'This is the civilizing you're so proud to have done?'

I have to admit, I'm still wondering how much of that particular tone was intentional and how much was me reading in more here based on my one prior encounter with Sembène. In the meantime, as I turn this over, it's giving me more incentive to keep an eye out for more of his movies. So far he's two for two and I am intrigued to see more.

But, that will have to be for another time. The days roll on and I've got two more titles left to close out August, which means another week of catch up before I'm back to the regular schedule.

So, I hope you all have a good weekend, and I'll be back here early next week with a movie that's been among the gaps I've been filling from before I really went out of the way to check out the Oscar heavies ahead of the big night. In this case, Todd Field's In the Bedroom.

Till then.

52 Pick-Up #4 – Yellow Submarine (1968)

Once, upon a post...
Or maybe twice.

Welcome back for another draw of 52 Pick-Up. Already one month down and so far, it's been an interesting journey. From cautionary tales of the dangers of authoritarianism, to fever dreams of demonic furniture, to a murder mystery abroad. With January going to a close, where do we go from here?

For starters, as I said last time, we're still tooling around Europe (and will be for just a little bit longer next month), but also we're closing out this month with a title that has been on my 'to do' list for a long time. In fact, of the first four, this has arguably been on here the longest.

It's the movie my wife was surprised to learn I hadn't seen until just this month, it's the animated classic Yellow Submarine.

I should start by saying, I wasn't avoiding this movie. It's one I'd had a general interest in for some time both for its own sake as a movie and just as one of the more colorful creations born out of the Beatles' legacy. Mostly it was just never quite lining up the right pieces of time, access, and opportunity.

As John himself once said it best 'life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.'

Okay, that's a bit of a reach to justify the fact this took me this long, but humor me.

Having now seen this movie? I have two immediate thoughts. The first – this was an incredibly fun experience and one I was pleased to see did not falter under its own reputation.

The second is a call back to the fact my wife was surprised I hadn't seen this (and something I am posting here with her blessing.) In mentioning this was on my to do list, she had mentioned first seeing this when being shown it by a music teacher she had growing up. Said teacher, she added, was very likely at some point in their life a hippie.

On having watched the movie for myself, I immediately sent her the below image with regards to that assessment:

Again, this is not a criticism. I really enjoyed this one.

First, let's get into the customary 'What is this about?' part.

Before I get into the pitch for this movie, I just want to say this – if you're watching Yellow Submarine for the plot, I don't want to say you're watching it wrong, but I am seriously questioning your priorities on this one. The story, such as it is, involves Pepperland, a fantastical fairy tale realm of love, peace, and music under the sea, where the people are all living in harmony. At least, for the first few minutes – enter the Blue Meanies, an outlandish band of villains whose hatred of music is matched only by their desire to stomp out joy (as their boss loudly declares early on “We Meanies only take NO for an answer!” if that gives an idea how committed they are.) The Meanies invade Pepperland, plummeting it into a sadness and disarray in short order. In the chaos, one of the residents, Young Fred, escapes in the titular Yellow Submarine to get help. His journey leads him to Liverpool where he crosses paths with the Beatles (not voiced by themselves, though they appear at the very end) who agree to help him save his homeland. What follows is a free-wheeling, outlandish journey through space, time, and a respectable slice of Beatles discography.

Hmmm...can I still make the 'It's not the real Beatles,
but it is an incredible simulation' joke if the actual Beatles
do still make an appearance at the end of the movie?

Again, don't try to think too hard about the plot unless you want to give yourself a bad time. Just enjoy the ride, because while it's not deeply or tightly plotted, it has a lot to recommend in it.

Up high on the list of things to recommend this for? The animation. I had known about the look of this movie from stills for years, but finally seeing this all in motion, I was pleasantly surprised by how good this looks in general, both in terms of its motion and just the uniquely strange visual styles it plays around with. In fact, this just placed pretty high on the movies I'll be looking for repertory screenings on, because I'd love to see this one in a theater to further just soak it all in.

Of course, this isn't all just music and fun visuals – though that is a lot of it. For as much as I was saying not to expect a deep or involving story, what story there is here is helps keep everything moving, it's breezy, it's funny, and it just keeps you interested and moving in equal parts to keep you from getting too bogged down in 'how did that work?' types of questions. The humor, especially, was one I didn't see coming. I expected this to just be a fun, delightful ride, but I was also pleasantly surprised at the number of times this movie got honest to God laughs out of me – be it with the over the top antics of the Meanies or the often deadpan comedic deliveries of the Beatles themselves. The two make a fun contrast, with the villains played at a constant 11 while the dialed back performances of our heroes read as less 'cool' and more comically oblivious to the situation they've been thrust into and just going with the flow.

Speaking of over-the-top villainy, special shout-out to actor
Paul Angelis, whose performance as the Chief Blue Meanie
is easily the acting MVP of the film. Just pure concentrated
mustache-twirling lunacy, and one was not surprised to learn
Mark Hamill got some inspiration from for his Joker performance.

Okay, score one for chance on this entry. Yes, the year started off on a good, but downright bleak note. As we come to the end of the first month and the temperatures get colder, this made for a welcome light note to close out on and one I'm now glad to have taken off the list.

For a starting four, this is giving me a general good feeling about the year ahead.

Speaking of which, next time something goes live here, it will be a new month, and with it, some new tweaks to the way these are chosen. I'll explain more next time as our informal tour of Europe continues for just a bit longer, though we're finally shifting to a different period in time. So, see you all in February when this project stops in Ireland for the 2024 horror movie Oddity.

Until then.