WRESTLING GROUNDS
Directed by Cheikh A. Ndiaye
Senegal, 2006, 105 min.
When 17-year-old Nalla becomes entranced by wrestling, a traditional art in Senegal that has become a national phenomenon, he joins a champion wrestling team against the wishes of his mother. Under the tutelage of an inspirational teacher, he learns that wrestling is about more than muscles, money, and women. The film also follows Sory, a compulsive gambler who takes another road, turning to street hustling as a means for paying off his debt. In exploring both stories, Wrestling Grounds twists the familiar images of Africa, cutting from nightclubs to ancestral ceremonies to streets where boom boxes play, and to beaches where athletes train for what is as much art as sport and as much competition as spiritual exploration. In Wolof and French with English subtitles.
Trailer
(with French subtitles)
