World Turned Upside Down
Produced and written by architectural historian and social critic Jean-Louis Bourgeois, shot in Mali, West Africa and New York City by Robert Clem, this film develops Bourgeois’ idea that in many ways the culture of West Africa is superior to that of overdeveloped, commercialized Western society. Bourgeois cites how social traditions of West Africa minimize conflict and encourage a communal bond. The film examines the lives of West African immigrants in New York City guided by Karim Soumano, son of Mali’s poet laureate, who lives in New York City and himself has been seduced by the attractions of the West.
For Bourgeois, Africans in America who once were brought over by slave ships, now voluntarily imprison themselves in “slave towers “ where they work and live and most often barely survive. At a social gatherings in New York City where Africans discuss their lives and travails, one man tells us that in Mali he sweated as he toiled in the hot sun; in America he works in an air-conditioned office building but sweats as he worries over how to pay his bills. The World Turned Upside Down is a sometimes humorous, always evocative study of how individuals struggle to find community and social harmony in the modern world. Narrated and edited by Robert Clem.