Synopsis
Meet the Malawas est une comédie française, réalisée en 2019 par James Huth, qui s’attaque à la frénésie engendrée par le choc des civilisations. Dans la narration, a cast of quirk French celebrity contestants of a reality show ‘Rencontre au bout du bout du monde’ is presented to the audience. What is the objective of the show? It is to that, for several days, the participants who are to be found trying to adapt to the culture of the Malawa, which is said to be a remote and fictional African ethnic group. Each of them arrives with excessive diva tantrums, an array of narcissistic disorder, and insecurities which distract them entirely from ‘how do we live without the comforts of the 21st century in the modern world.’ A journey to where each attempt to become closer to the culture results in chaos, further exposition of this is also emphasized within the satire which is this film that revolves around the concept of celebrities and the so-called reality TV.
Awards & Wins
Despite not winning important prizes, the film stood out for its humorous take on different cultural clichés and media parody, rendering it an ideal, comical, French film for the audience.
Cast & Crew
- Director: James Huth (Brice de Nice, Lucky Luke)
- Cast:
- Christian Clavier as Stéphane, the pompous news anchor
- Michaël Youn as Sam, a temperamental pop star
- Ramzy Bedia as Gad, the neurotic actor
- Sylvie Testud as Isabelle, a high-strung journalist
- Pascal N’Zonzi as Chief Malawa
- Writers: James Huth and Sonja Shillito
- Music: Bruno Coulais
- Cinematography: Stéphane Le Parc
IMDb Ratings
The movie holds a 4.4/10 on IMDb, reflecting mixed reviews. While some viewers appreciated the film’s humor and character dynamics, others criticized it for leaning into clichéd portrayals.
Personal Insights
The Malawas combines slapstick humor and satire but walks an ethical tightrope regarding humor and cultural standpoints. The film achieves many laughs, notably through Clavier’s shameless portrayal of a middle-class television anchor and Youn’s gimmicky wacky-wannabe-superstar. Nevertheless, the portrayal of the made-up tribe of Malawas is rather dull and at times even sketchy; they appear to be easily offensive and primitive to contemporary viewers. The critique of the narcissism of the famous and the vulturing by the media is interesting but most of the times ‘drowned’ in cheap jokes.
Cultural Significance
This film challenges its viewers to reflect on the general image which most of the European and American filmmakers give to the African countries in their movies. Even though the film created an imaginal tribe, Meet the Malawas is careful not to offend any real people but loses the opportunity to give a deeper insight in the future. It is funny how westerners feel the need to show off their culture as superior to others, although the jokes often distract from the possibility of the film being a more thorough examination of cultural issues. Very rough around the edges this movie attempts to engage its audience into debates about culture contact and approprateness of reality tv shows.
Should You Watch It?
In case you’re looking for a decent laugh while also aware of the satirical sentiments that it carries, Meet the Malawas is an entertaining but not a word record breaking experience. To that end, come prepared with an open attitude towards the film’s sometimes ridiculous sensibility, but do not seek revelation or any significant social commentary for that matter.
