The future may belong to popular culture because of the diffuseness of that space but even then popular culture and its cultural products are not privileged. Someone still has to interpret them as in this crypt take by Dr. Yusuf Bangura after he finished watching the outing. It is short but contains all the identity pointers for the careful reader! Read on!
By Dr. Yusuf Bangura
We’ve just finished watching Lupin, a blockbusting, truly amazing mystery thriller on Netflix. A must-see film for those who haven’t seen it. It’s in 10 episodes.
The Senegalese-French actor Omar Sy, who plays the lead part, strives to avenge the death of his immigrant father who was framed by a rich French businessman of stealing his multimillion euro necklace.
Sy’s father commits suicide in prison after he was tricked by the businessman, his wife and a police commissioner to sign a confession statement.
Sy uses the tricks of the fictional character Arsène Lupin created by the French writer Maurice Leblanc in 1905 in a book on Lupin he received from his father.
The fictional Lupin is a ‘gentleman thief and master of disguise’, who has an extraordinary ability to escape from difficult situations.
Sy shows great skill, confidence and courage in applying Lupin’s tricks to confound the security forces and the businessman’s undercover agents.
The film has a bit of the feel and drama of another Netflix blockbuster, The Money Heist. And Sy has the physical appearance and swagger of the Sierra Leonean-British actor Idris Elba.
I’m struck that even though the lead actor is black, I could only detect one racist comment in the entire series when Sy tried to date the businessman’s daughter who had a crush on him (he told her to stay away from him because “we are not like those people”).
I can’t wait for the next set of episodes.
