gavin6942
A once-prosperous Senegalese village has been falling further into poverty year by year until the village's elders are reduced to selling town possessions to pay debts. Linguère, a former resident and local beauty, now very rich, returns to this, the village of her birth. The elders hope that she will be a benefactor to the village. To encourage her generosity, they appoint a local grocer, Dramaan, as mayor -- who once courted her and will now try to persuade her to help.This is an adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Swiss-German satirical play "The Visit", which I am not familiar with, so I will have to judge the film on its own merits. Knowing nothing of Senegal, I love how they really used the village and surroundings and made it a crucial part of the film. The story is strong and funny in its own way, but I think the locale is a bigger selling point. I've never been anywhere in Africa, and certainly not Senegal... this made a strong visual impression on me.
Nicole C
The film has a pretty slow tempo but the story it tells has some great meaning behind it. Ramatou represents the Western capitalist ideology and the Senegalese village a cultural way of living. When the villagers slowly rid themselves of their cultural values, they can be seen as 'selling out' to the western values, that which Ramatou represents with her wealth.Quite a lot of scenes seem pretty random to me in this film, and I did not understand what they represented. Also, the montage with the hyenas could probably have been cut down. One or two juxtapositions would be enough to make that connection strong, but too many clips of the hyenas in the wilderness just increased the distance of the film for me. Though the last scene did make me curiouser and curiouser, it was well done.The acting felt pretty dry too. There didn't seem to be that much emotion behind many of the characters, and the speech was a little awkward. I know this might be a cultural way of speech but it felt too spaced out. For example Dramaan would wait 5-10 seconds before replying or saying something while the camera is on him.Overall it is a pretty interesting film with many intriguing aspects but just dry.Read more movie reviews at: championangels.wordpress.com
filmalamosa
Les Hyenes...the hyenas interested me because it takes place in Senegal. I like foreign movies because it is a way of travelling. But what a Senegal! The movie is laden with dystonic visual symbolism that resembles that 1920s version of the Bride of Frankenstein (I bet I am close believe it or not). In any case it is out of place in a poor 3rd world country..it looks like you are mocking them.The result makes them look like they all wear flour sack clothes and live in absolute destitution. I doubt any of the cast truly understood the deep symbolism of having gold colored shoes made in Upper Volta? The deep symbolism is of course that they are slowly being corrupted into killing a man for money. Wow! What an idea lets use gold to show greed and sagging dirty French flags to symbolize?? The evil of colonialism? Beats me-- Senegal gained it's independence from France in 1960. This movie is supposed to take place in the 1980s. Must be a leftist stab at colonialism.Oh the story.... a woman seeks revenge for having been dumped in her youth and forced into prostitution because she got pregnant and her lover wanted to marry someone richer. A Danielle Steele novel line. She some how becomes richer than the World Bank (an institution on the tongues of every peasant in Senegal). This prostitute acquires hundreds of millions of dollars (how? in a country like Senegal?) As mentioned earlier the movie is laden with too much visual symbolism...everyone starts wearing gold colored things (get it?) and their hair starts to look like a hangman's rope etc... It is the kind of downer visual symbolism that creates unease and a desire to get out of where ever it is as quickly as you can.Poor Senegal if these are the only images people associate with it.I gave it 2 stars because frankly some of the visuals are unforgettable including a Citroen deux chevaux convertible (it is not a Peugeot as another writer says).
larrysmile1
Hyenes is a foreign film from Senegal adapted from a play, The Visit, by Swiss playwright Friedrich Dirrenmatt. It is spoken in the local language with English subtitles.This film is surreal. It makes political statements and explains how a poor, failing village becomes prosperous by the greed of it's residents and the revenge of one of it's former community members.Linguere Ramatou, played by Ami Diakhate, was once a young women who left her home village under less than honorable terms and has now become wealthy. She returns to her village to bestow a large sum of money so that the poor village can become a prosperous city. However, she seeks revenge upon her once seducer Dramaan, played by Mansour Diouf.Dramaan had abandoned Ramatou when they were young forcing her to go to the city to engage in "the oldest profession." Now, Dramaan is an elder grocer granting good on credit to the unemployed villagers whom come to his store much to the displeasure of his wife and co-store keeper.The villagers, learning that Ramatou is returning after many years to bestow money upon the village, appoints Dramaan the local mayor and instructs him to once again "woo" Ramatou so that she will make a large contribution to the village of Colobane.What happens next is a surreal tale of how Dramaan fawns over his once love and her reactions to this lover from long ago.The simple actions of Dramaan are often funny as well as the actions of the village's local officials. Ramatou is willing to provide the large endowment to the village on one condition. You need to see the movie to know that condition and how a "soul" is traded for the donation.The village customs are interesting for Westerners whom may have little or no knowledge of some African customs. It is a little difficult to follow the fast movie English subtitles while listening to the dialogue in Senegalese. The film may need to be viewed more than once for the Westerner to fully comprehend the story and motivations of the principal players.
AD
