The Wrestlers

M'Pongo

Congo

1982

80 Min

Color

French

Currently 0.0/5 Stars.
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CAST Béranger Dubois, Albertine Ngalou, Joseph Nzikou Kengu

Synopsis

Set in a small village in the Congo, where one of the villagers’ favourite pastimes is either to watch or to take part in a form of very civilised “fighting” that involves two young men in loin cloths trying to flip the other to the ground. The action is over in a few seconds, and then another pair of fighters takes a turn, all the while reminded by the referee not to inflict hurt. An important match is coming up and the people in the village are backing their favourite, who spends his time in training with a Belgian coach, getting ready for the big day.

Director

Jean-Michel Tchissoukou

Jean-Michel Tchissoukou (1942-1987) born Congolese filmmaker Ponta Negra in 1942. In Paris, he studied cinema at the National Audiovisual Institute (INA) and the radio Cooperation Agency (oc). He worked for the national TV channel of the Congo for 10 years. His first short film Illusions, describing the exodus of young people from the countryside to major cities in the Congo. He worked as an assistant in Sambizanga (1972) directed by Sarah Maldoror. His first feature film, La Chapelle, 1979, was awarded the Fespaco in 1981. A film about religious tensions in the colonial period of 1930 between the African traditional religion and the Catholic Church. M’Pongo / Les Lutteurs, 1982, is a mixture of fiction and documentary, where the Congolese culture and identity are analyzed. Jean-Michel Tchissoukou is considered the father of the movie Congo. —Wikipedia