Movies from Africa? Count me in…

Why would anyone want to watch a movie from the Dark Continent? Why forsake the romance of Europe or the Exotic South America for another hour or so of grime, pain and suffering? With reluctant steps I followed Anoop, as he tried hard to convince me about his great expectations on Kim Nguyen’s movie, War Witch (Rebelle).

It was our second day at the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2012). Held every year at Thiruvananthapuram, this annual ‘mela’ attracts film buffs from across the state, the country, and even from abroad. For people like me, this film festival is a window to the world – a full week that we get to feast our eyes and souls, and to catch up with the rest of the planet.

It was never a good idea to try and reason with my friend, who lived and breathed cinema. So, when the credits started rolling, I was sitting beside him, yawning already. The audience was sparse, and I was happy that I was going to prove Anoop wrong. But, the Canadian director’s ‘unrecognisable’ female lead Rachel Mwanza stirred and shook me in the very first sequence, for all the wrong reasons. The Silver Bear winner of Berlin essayed her role as a child, who is forcibly inducted into the rebel army somewhere in Africa, with such stoic finesse that I never sat back throughout the film. War Witch was engrossing.

Rachel Mwanza in War Witch

Rachel Mwanza

Komona, a girl in her early teens, is forced to kill her parents and join the rebel army. In a world of mindless brutality and superstitions, her apparent ‘third eye’ for enemies earns her the title of a ‘witch’ among comrades in the rebel group – her sixth sense even insulates her from the probing eyes of other group members. Nguyen traces the tragic trajectory of her innocence giving way to hardened indifference. Once she tries to escape the fugitive life with her favourite man from the group. However, the rampages of the rebel life and its consequences haunt her through. The army captures the young couple. She is violated and tortured, and her partner is killed. She uses her femininity to get back at the perpetrators, and gives them the slip. The film ends when a pregnant Komona, narrating her life and times to her unborn child, revisits her village and bids a fitting farewell to her parents – a repentance of sorts.

A still from War Witch (Rebelle)

“There’s an effervescence in the way she inhabits the moment,” Nguyen went on record about Mwanza, his lead lady. But then, that is true about the entire cast of the film. Part of the plan, he admits. The director reportedly chose his cast from among non-actors, and opted to shoot the film based on spot improvisations. It worked. Life comes one full circle for Komona at an age when most girls in other parts of the world still hug teddy bears to sleep. “There is a certain life pattern that comes out because it’s not narrative motivated — it’s just truth,” Nguyen has said. And that very fact tied me to movies from Africa - that strange sense of belonging, when you see life portrayed almost as it is. No frills, no fluff. Just plain life.

La Pirogue by Senegalese director Moussa Touré was another film that routed my ‘African prejudice’ forever. A simple story, told in a gripping way. A group of men and a woman decide to leave the comforts of their homeland to try their luck in Europe in a pirogue (a fishing boat). Baye Laye (Souleymane Seye Ndiaye), a seasoned fisherman is hesitant at first to captain the pirogue, since the weeklong crossing of the Atlantic could be perilous. However, he later agrees to sail, for a better future for his family. The motley crew consists of various ethnic groups of Senegal, whose interactions with each other causes fun and friction. The initial energy and enthusiasm of the group withers away after a storm, and slowly several of them succumb to the travails of the voyage. All hopes are lost when the boat’s engines fail, and the crew is adrift in the sea for several days without food and water. At the point of desperation, they are saved by a Red Cross vessel and sent back to Senegal.

A still from La Pirogue

According to the director, in Senegal, at least one member from almost every family has left for Europe to try their luck and make it big there. The youth, failing to see a secure future in their homeland, are ready to undertake any hardship to migrate to the greener pastures of Europe – legally or otherwise. They live in hope, but are sometimes not able to cope when it comes to the harsh realities of life. “When there is no momentum in a country, when not a flicker of hope remains, young people don’t think twice – they set sail at their risk and peril,” Touré says. La Pirogue is a visual treat, and is rich with the exotic music of Senegal. And there were amazing parallels between the lives of people in that movie and those in my part of the world. Kerala thrives on the Dollars or Dirhams her sons and daughters send home. I was sold there!

We were quite choosy about films in the IFFK, since we did not have much time to spend at the fest. For the same reason, we could not watch several other movies from the Dark Continent, which earned accolades from delegates. We had our regular dose of Europe and South America, of course. But then, without mentioning these names, my IFFK account will not be complete. I loved Me and You by Italian maestro Bernardo Bertolucci for its touching storyline and intensity, and Post Tenebras Lux by Mexican (Best Director at Cannes) Carlos Reygadas for its visual brilliance and sheer indifference to the viewer.

Till next December, then…