Gangs, witch doctors, gun violence, wrestling tournaments. One would think a movie with all of these components could make for a very entertaining feature film. However, ‘Wrestling Ground,’ a film by Senegalese director Cheikh Ndiage, is anything but. With poor dialogue and a lack of character development, ‘Wrestling Grounds’ fails on many levels.

The main premise of the movie centers on the main character, Nalla, and his attempt to become one of Senegal’s greatest wrestlers. The viewer is thrown right into the story as the movie begins with Nalla running away from a local gang attempting to rob him. While the crime is in progress, Andre, a wrestler, comes to the aid of Nalla, scaring the gang members away.

From here on out, the film begins to tread downhill. In the blink of an eye, Nalla is in full training sessions with Andre as they run up and down the beach dreaming of Senegal wrestling glory. Nalla, whose acting skills belong in an elementary-school play, attempts to convey his love of wrestling to both the audience and his dissenting parents who do not want Nalla to hang around ‘a hoodlum’ like Andre.

However, Nalla’s story is not the only one that keeps ‘Wrestling Grounds’ uninteresting. Thirty minutes in, the movie begins to continuously switch between two stories: hers and Andre’s, and the story about an unnamed gang member who is never properly introduced.

This new plotline discusses the financial problems of the gang member and his conflict with the apparent gang leader (who stands at an intimidating 5 feet). In order for the gang member to relieve himself of all financial obligations, he must scalp tickets at local wrestling tournaments or face death. Confusingly, the gang member complains to his leader that scalping tickets is ‘too dangerous’ but willingly obliges to do it after a gun is held to his head.

In between these two jumbled plotlines is an array of random and meaningless characters the director improperly introduces to the audience. With a poorly written script, these actors begin to look like deer in headlights as they attempt to deliver dialogue that is both empty and clichd. Not only that, these randomly placed characters add further confusion to what the original storyline of Nalla and Andre was.

Despite this mess of a movie, the cinematography of ‘Wrestling Grounds’ is above average. The director often focuses on keeping the viewer close to the action on film, making them feel as if they are standing right next to the actors. This cinematography, however, is easily overlooked.

The organizers of the Syracuse International Film Festival did a poor job with the overall showing of this movie, as well. The sound of ‘Wrestling Grounds’ had a continuous buzzing noise in the background until toward the end of the picture when the technicians finally fixed it. In addition, the projector was regularly adjusted as the film kept drifting off screen. These setbacks did not matter; the viewers had already been deprived of their $8 long before the reel began rolling.

Published on April 18, 2007 at 12:00 pm