Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Heather's response to "La Vie Est Belle"
I really enjoyed watching the film La Vie Est Belle. I think all the
characters’ personalities were very captivating which made them relatable. The
film showed many aspects of the Congolese life. We got to see the upper class,
the lower class, the culture and the fun music. We saw every person, rich or
poor, always working or finding another way to make money. The music was
entertaining, and having Papa Wemba play Kourou was a good choice. He brought
life to the film through his music and charming personality. Even though he
struggled a little with his love and was constantly working, he showed that
life can still be rosy. The film was very comical and I found myself laughing almost
the whole time. Opposed to the previous two films we watched, the comedy in La Vie Est Belle may be the reason why
we liked this film more than the other two. But, then the ending started to
turn quite tragic. When Kourou decide to hang himself, I thought to myself, “oh
here we go again”, because I instantly related this to the ending of Black Girl. He ended up just hurting his
neck, which I was happy to see, and ended up playing with his band in a video
and ended up with someone he truly loves. The film accurately portrayed why “la
vie est belle”.
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I felt the same way when he hung himself. It is so different to see this very serious theme of suicide in the African films and books we are reading, especially because it seems to come out of no where! I also really enjoyed Papa Wemba. He was such a funny character who was so relateable.
ReplyDeleteI too found it to be very entertaining! I enjoyed how diverse and interesting the characters were. It made the film enjoyable and comedic. I do not understand the African's need to use suicide or and attempt at it in their films. The ones we have seen each involve it in some way. I think the film was great until they took it too far by including that scene. I do not think it fit in very well with the movie as a whole.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of the film managed to highlight both the 'rosy' aspects of the film along with its 'thorny' attributes as well. But there were other parts of the film besides the attempted suicide that showed the thorns that belong to the rose which include Papa Wemba's sexual harassment of Kabibi when he stalks in on her way home in his car and his refusal to believe that he is the one who can't have children but Mamu. These instances display the domination of men over women that occurs still in that culture. And in the scene when Papa Wemba has Kuru stuck in his trunk all he has to do is cry out and policemen listen to him because he looks like he has money.
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