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If you think it’s easy being yourself, you should watch The Pearl of Africa. You’ll meet Cleo, a transgender woman, struggling for acceptance within an country where it’s illegal for her to be herself. In fact, for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ she could be executed. Find out how she manages to live by watching this documentary on Netflix.
We first meet Cleo lying half conscious on a hospital bed. It’s not clear what has happened. However, the stop motion animations of one figure punching another figure in high heels leads us to assume that she has been abused.
Uganda is a country with so much diversity, but there still lingers so much prejudice. Whilst different languages and religions coexist, homosexuality has been outlawed. Cleo and her boyfriend would get life imprisonment for a single homosexual act, and would face execution for ‘aggravated homosexuality.’ Simply put, it’s illegal for them to exist.
The director intentionally alternates between the news footage of angry protestors protesting against homosexuality and the serene relationship between Cleo and Nelson. On the one hand you have people protesting a sexual orientation they think is not normal. Then on the other hand you have Cleo and Nelson, a happy couple in love. Juxtaposing the two scenes makes the protestors position appear even more absurd as it shows they are directly protesting against happiness and love.
The Pearl of Africa shows you just how hard it is for some people to be themselves. Cleo is forced to leave the country to simply be the person she is. However, this is also a documentary of the strength of love. You’ll see how Cleo and Nelson struggle together to overcome their illegality.
To watch more check out God Loves Uganda which explores the role of American religious extremists in establishing anti-homosexuality in Uganda.
If you want to watch more African film which highlight social issues check out the fun Africa United, Beauty and the Dogs, and Black Girl. All are great film.
A Taste of Our Land is the first narrative feature I’ve seen that speaks to the rising Chinese influence in African countries. It’s inspired by the director’s experience working in a Chinese mine in Rwanda, where he saw a colleague beaten so badly he was hospitalized. His crime? To ask for his pay.
A Taste of Our Land features a similarly brutal Chinese-run mine in Uganda. It’s operated by a Chinese convict named Cheng that brutally beats his employees for any acts of dissent. He works for a Chinese company that don’t appear in the film. We only hear them on the other end of Cheng’s phone, emphasizing their disregard for Africa and it’s people. They’re extracting Africa’s wealth from abroad with the help of a criminal. It paints a surprisingly blunt picture of the exploitative motivations of China in Africa
The victim of this film is an older African man called Yohani who struggles to provide for his pregnant wife. He tries to get compensation for the Chinese mine which was built on his land without permission. However, because the local authorities he appeals to have already been paid off, there’s nothing he can do. The African authorities have sold him out for temporary wealth.
When Yohani discovers a nugget of gold on his land, he becomes an obvious allegory of the world’s exploitation of Africa. Three protagonists are after his new found wealth, and each one of them representatives a different world power.
Credit is due to the filmmakers for avoiding the conventional African film tropes of war, HIV, and witchcraft to focus on the growing Chinese influence in Africa. It’s rare to see an African film implicating other national powers and religious institutions so blatantly in its demise. However, A Taste of Our Land’s bad acting makes the allegories a bit too obvious. It highlights the heavy handedness of the script and lack of production quality of the film (it’s made on a spartan $12,000 budget). As a result, what could be a subtle implication of religious and national powers in Africa’s exploitation comparable to Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan, ends up feeling a bit stereotypically comical.
Head to our Pan African Film Festival Hub for more reviews from PAFF 2020.
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