“Dancing the Twist in Bamako,” a new feature film from French director Robert Jules Guédiguian, is a conundrum. If ever there was a movie intended to push some hot buttons, surely this is it. What contentious subject doesn’t the picture glance upon? You name it, Mr. Guédiguian brings it on: colonialism, racism, socialism, capitalism, Islamism, sexism, and, undoubtedly, at least one -ism I’ve left off the list. 

Yet anyone walking into the theater wanting the cinematic equivalent of a righteous harangue, be advised: Disappointment will ensue. For what Mr. Guédiguian has crafted is an old-fashioned entertainment, a melodrama that with its cinematography, production design, and unapologetic embrace of sentiment is resolutely mainstream in its narrative contours and overall tone. Forget “The Battle of Algiers,” “Touki Bouki,” or “Zama”: better films for comparison are “Footloose,” “Hairspray,” and “Rebel Without a Cause.” 

Both the latter and the actor James Dean are name-checked in “Dancing the Twist in Bamako,” and it’s worth mentioning that the film is a period piece. Mr. Guédiguian, who wrote the screenplay with Gilles Taurand, sets his tale of shifting cultural mores and young love in Mali circa 1962. The country at that point has gained independence — French colonial rule ended two years earlier — and revolution is in the air.

The new socialist regime is settling in and reaching out to citizens far and wide. Among those gung-ho about the new political situation is Samba (Stéphane Bak), a 20-year-old whose naivete is as deep as his commitment is strong. The local administrator for the new government tasks Samba to travel outside the city limits and proselytize on behalf of new political initiatives.

Upon returning from a trip to the bush, Samba and his colleagues, Jules (Saabo Balde) and Bakary (Ahmed Dramé), discover a stowaway huddled in the back of their pick-up truck. Lara (Alice Da Luz) is desperate to get out of an arranged marriage and hopes to reconnect with the French nationals who previously employed her as a maid. 

Against his better inclinations, as well as the advice of his by-the-book comrades, Samba agrees to escort Lara to Bamako, the capital of Mali as well as its largest city. Upon discovering that her former employers have left the country, Bakary suggests that Lara crash with his sister Bintou (the ebullient Miveck Packa). 

All the while significant looks pass between Samba and Lara. Love, as should be obvious even to the most benighted cinephile, is in the air. Does the soundtrack swell to a crescendo when their eyes meet? No, but music permeates “Dancing the Twist in Bamako.” 

Posters of John Lee Hooker, Otis Redding, James Brown, and French pop singer Claude François pepper the bedroom walls of various characters. A hub of the community is “Happy Boys Club,” a night spot wherein the young folks, dressed to the nines in Western gear, shimmy to the music of Ray Charles, the Ronettes, the Isley Brothers, and, of course, Chubby Checker.

What about the older folks? True to form, they are a knottier lot. If the adults aren’t humbugging new governmental initiatives on civic life and commercial trade, as is the case with the village elders out in the sticks and a cadre of businessmen in town, they’re sitting behind a desk in city hall, eager to cement the prerogatives of an idyllic socialist state. 

Conflict ensues, especially when council members cast a suspicious eye on dance clubs. You know the drill: loose morals, rock ’n’ roll music and s-e-x.  Can’t have any of that.

Samba’s dedication to The Cause is shaken, particularly when he receives precious little help from the powers-that-be in obtaining a divorce for Lara. His disappointment is compounded when his father is arrested for participating in an anti-government demonstration.

Mr. Guédiguian was inspired to make “Dancing the Twist in Bamako” after seeing “Mali Twist,” a 2018 exhibition at Paris’s Fondation Cartier dedicated to the photographs of Malick Sidibé. Preemptively taking into account any potential accusations of cultural appropriation, the director claims “the right and the duty to look at all the stories of the world.” 

Let’s see how Mr. Guédiguian’s brand of inclusivity placates his critics. In the meantime, he’s put together a film that is genuinely felt, visually sumptuous, and, for the most part, free of cant. Although far from revolutionary, “Dancing the Twist in Bamako” leaves a pleasant afterglow.