Film Difficulty 2

To help you ease your way into our world, we have devised a the film difficulty ranking system to rate the difficulty of each film reviewed on our site. The easiest to watch films (the Rom-Coms and Superhero flicks that you watch anyway) will have a rating of 1. Foreign language films automatically add one point, as do black and white films, and films with strange and hard to follow plots. Welcome to Film Difficulty 2.

Film Difficulty Ranking 2: These films are perfect introductions to those new to foreign films. These one’s may have subtitles, or be in black and white, but these films are all easy to follow and enjoy.

For the next step, check out Film Difficulty Ranking 3.

131

Sea and Jungle (Mionga Ki Obo) – Welcome to Sao Joao dos Angolares

Sea and Jungle FILM DIFFICULTY RANKING: 2

Angolares are the oldest inhabitants of the island of São Tomé. Control of the island was wrested from them in the late 19th century, and their descendants have been reduced to a small fishing community sitting on the border of the sea and jungle. Sea and Jungle explores the tangled history of the Angolares and the island of São Tomé.

From: São Tomé & Principe, Africa
Watch: YouTube, IMDb
Next: Golden Fish, African Fish, Batuque, Inland Sea

Sea and Jungle – The Breakdown

Sea and Jungle starts as a narrated documentary. The filmmaker, Ângelo Torres, talks through an introduction to the remote fishing village of Sao Joao dos Angolares in the southern part of São Tomé (the main island of São Tomé and Principe) alongside shots of village life. There’s only 2,500 people living here on this strip of land bordering the Sea and Jungle (Mionga Ki Ôbo). The narrated documentary start gives the viewer a foundational understanding of the place and heritage (these people are the oldest inhabitants of the island following their escape from slavery) before the filmmaker grounds us in some local interviews.

The majority of the interview subjects are part of the fishing community of the village. They tell stories of the sea to give us a living perspective of the island to add to the director’s introduction. Some are functional, like the fish saleswoman that details how she funds her entrepreneurial job, whilst some are more emotional, like the traumatic story from a fisherman that hasn’t gone out to sea for four years after a near death experience. There’s also an interview with the island’s godfather type – a white man who’s the go-to money lender for the island and literal godfather to 117 local children. His white skin is a sign that the Portuguese colonial legacy on the island perhaps hasn’t fully passed. Whilst the sequence of interviews doesn’t develop a story or any themes, the interviews with the locals give a more vivid depiction of life in Sao Joao dos Angolares.

Some of the interviews are broken up by improvisational dance and dramatic reenactments of some of the stories. These interludes add a dreaminess to the documentary that runs with the narrator’s musings and mystical interview questions. The dreamy, mystical tone makes the interviewee’s references to superstitions seem more normal. There’s the man who doesn’t each shark because it might be the shark that ate his father, the boat makers that cut the trees for the canoes on specific moon-lit nights, and the doctors that summon spirits to help them cure their neighbors. However, the creative dreaminess is not fully embraced – the film doesn’t go full Fausto in it’s originality. It also doesn’t focus one theme; jumping between local fishing stories, superstitions, historical narrative, and improvisational scenes which dilute the film’s focus. But if you’re looking for an interesting documentary capturing life from a small town on a small African island country, Sea and Jungle does it’s job.

What to Watch Next

There’s a few more interesting African documentaries that center on life by the sea. Golden Fish, African Fish opens a window on Senegal’s many fisherman whilst Batuque will let you listen to Cape Verde’s national music. Or for a dreamy docudrama from another island nation, check out Mauritius’ The Cathedral. In Search of Voodoo also does a similar job of capturing one aspect of a country’s culture.

You could also check out Inland Sea from Japan if you’re looking for more fishing related documentaries from around the world.

132

Tales of the Accidental City (Kenya) – Pan African Film Festival 2022

Four people from different sides of Nairobi join a court-ordered anger management class with Counsellor Rose in Tales of the Accidental City. They each bring their own stories and banter to the Zoom call to create a quick one-location comedic overview of Nairobi society.

As called out in the opening titles, Tales of the Accidental City was originally created for the stage. It was adapted for film following the start of COVID-19 as the pandemic forced theaters to shut. It still resembles a play, as the focus is on the conversation and takes place completely in the single ‘location’ of a Zoom call. However, one benefit of converting Tales of the Accidental City for film is that all viewers are close enough to see the actors facial expressions. These are crucial for communicating the humor of the film which relies on the quick banter between characters. Without the close-ups we wouldn’t be able to see clearly how each of the character’s react to each other.

The humor seems to be built around local stereotypes with each of the 5 characters (including Counsellor Rose) representing a different part of Nairobi society. Louis represents the political elite, and fulfills the snobby, self-important stereotype. Counsellor Rose represents the Kenyan version of the cultural appropriating white hippie with Buddha poster on her wall and doing yoga to meditative music and candles. Jacinda’s character seems to be mocking the devout Christians of the middle class whilst Diana and Sarah represent the mothers and youth of the working class. Each character is exaggerated through their manner and their zoom backgrounds to create the associations with the stereotypes. Their equally flowing banter then makes fun of each of them, and the segments of Nairobi society they belong to.

If you’re looking for a simple Kenyan comedy, Tales of the Accidental City is worth a watch. Whilst the film is confined to the Zoom meeting room, it playfully makes fun of a few stereotypes of the city, giving the audience a few laughs and a small understanding of Nairobi society.

Check back to our Pan African Film Festival 2022 page for more reviews coming out of the 30th edition of the festival.

133

Sunday in Brazzaville – Meet Some of the Capital’s Artists

Sunday in Brazzaville Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Why Watch Sunday in Brazzaville?

See documentary of an African country that doesn’t focus on poverty or war
Meet 3 of the capital’s artists
To see how some of the Republic of Congo’s residents get down

From: Republic of Congo, Africa
Watch: IMDb, JustWatch, Tubi, Hoopla
Next: System K, Burkina Rising, Night of Calypso

50 years after colonialism, Sunday in Brazzaville takes a look at three artists contributing to contemporary Congolese culture in the former capital of Free France. Each of them reforms influences from the West into cultures that are uniquely Congolese.

The three artists in profile represent three different parts of culture:

The Fashion orientated Sapeurs – a group of men and women that live by a gentlemanly code and dress in bright suits. Their code of conduct rules that they must show good manners, be elegant, and always well dressed – deriving their characteristics from wealthy upper class Frenchmen. They’re surprisingly proud of their French heritage, but also sport brightly colored suits that feel uniquely Congolese.
The wrestler representing sport and entertainment. This wrestling has much more in common with the WWE in the U.S. than the greco-Roman wrestling you’ll see at the Olympics. It’s more focused on the spectacle than strength. The wrestler profiled, like the Sapeurs, mixes Congolese elements into the U.S. style wrestling, with magic and live animals becoming his secret weapons.
Lastly there’s our musician, a rapper uncovering life in Brazzaville in his rhymes. Like the Sapeurs and the wrestler, he has been influenced by culture from the West (in this case rap music from the U.S.) and adapted it to depict contemporary Congolese life.

Each of the three artists in Sunday in Brazzaville represent contemporary Congolese culture with all of them adapting elements of Western art for Congolese audiences to give a quick overview of life in Brazzaville. The only thing that would have been nice to see is more of a gender balance in the subjects as the characters profiled are all male.

What to Watch Next

Sunday in Brazzaville is a western made African documentary that doesn’t focus on the exploitative thematic trio of poverty, conflict, and AIDS. Narrated by a Congolese radio host, it reminded me a bit of PRI’s informative and diverse Afropop Worldwide podcast series which looks at a wide range of African music around the world. It also reminded me of some of the vibrant and colorful documentaries coming out of the Republic of Congo’s neighbor the DRC such as System K and Zombies. Or if you’re looking for more overviews of one country’s culture, check out Burkina Rising and Night of Calypso.

134

Hand of Fate – One Family Ripped Apart by Marriage Customs

Hand of Fate Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

In Hand of Fate, an underage girl is forced by her father to quit school and marry a man she doesn’t know living abroad. This greed-driven marriage splits their family unit as the patriarchy threatens to ruin another girls life.

From: The Gambia, Africa
Watch: YouTube, IMDb
Next: Mustang, Flesh Out, Dakan

Hand of Fate – Breakdown

Disclaimer: to get something out of watching Hand of Fate you’ll have to first ignore the audio quality. The volume of the dialogue and background noise chops and changes with the cuts making it hard to consistently hear what the characters are saying. Whilst this might not be too problematic for an action film like Who Killed Captain Alex? it doesn’t help this film which relies heavily on its dialogue.

If you can ignore the changes in audio quality, you’ll find a pretty entertaining family feud. At its best, the conspiring brother corrupting the once honorable father into selling his daughter’s hand in marriage is classic drama. It captures the father’s fall from respecting his wife after she gives birth to their first child, and promising a much better future for their daughter, to him reneging on his promises because of the cunning words of his money-grubbing brother. The father clearly isn’t the best bloke, but it’s fun watching him be swayed one way then the other between his brother (like the devil on his shoulder encouraging him to sell his daughter for wealth) and his wife and daughter (who he doesn’t really trust because he’s the man of the house – so what can a woman tell him). There’s enough drama to keep most viewers entertained.

That being said, there are a few conspicuous moments in which the director/producers slip in some educational messages. There’s a scene where one character gives another a mobile phone, and the gifter starts going on about how they shouldn’t drive whilst using their mobile phone. There’s another where a character suffers from a disease and a doctor arrives to berate them for not getting vaccinated when the state medics came to their town to offer it. It’s clear these kinds of messages are added to support government messaging – don’t use your mobile phone whilst driving – and – get vaccinated – and their obviousness disrupts the flow of the narrative. Hand of Fate also manages to sneak in a lot of current themes too, with European Migration, Female Circumcision, and Equal Education each playing a part in the script. These fit the script more naturally than the government messaging, but it still feels like the producers might have had a checklist for adding all these different topics to the story.

Hand of Fate is worth a watch if you’re able to overlook the audio quality and government messaging. It is a low-budget movie – clear from the quality of the production, setting, and acting – so it’s worth going into the movie not expecting much. However, once you get past all of that, you might be able to enjoy the heaps of drama and family feuding.

What to Watch Next

For more family drama featuring more forced marriages, watch Mustang from Turkey. It’s pretty upbeat for the most part, but not without a lingering melancholy that represents their fate in the hands of the patriarchy. For more films featuring forced marriages try Sand Storm, set within a Beddouin tribe in Southern Israel and Saudi Runaway, a personal documentary of one woman trying to escape hers.

For more controversial marriages, you could also try Flesh Out from Mauritania, featuring the dangerous Leblouh process where girls consume tremendous amounts of food to fatten up for their wedding.

Or if you’re looking for more family controversy set in Africa, there’s Dakan, a film about a gay relationship disrupted by homophobia in Guinea.

135

Ayinla (Nigeria) – Pan African Film Festival 2022

Ayinla is inspired by the life of Apala music legend Ayinla Omowura. Set in 1970s Abeokuta, the film charts his rise in the local, national, and international music scenes and the tribulations and ultimate tragedy that accompany his fiery character.

Whilst this film is a dramatized story about Ayinla, it starts with a number of home-video style interviews from local politicians and his friends. These are all real people talking, not actors, and their interviews are used to set up the importance of Ayinla. He’s an artist whose renown never hit the astronomical highs of Fela Kuti or King Sunny Ade, but with these interviews and the dramatized story of his life, director, and fellow Abeokuta resident, Tunde Kelani shows he’s worthy of international recognition.

The highlight of Ayinla is the music. Whilst not all of the lyrics are subtitled, you can tell that Ayinla was a playful and political lyricist from the songs that are. They’re all cut into the movie pretty smoothly and give the film the star soundtrack to promote his legacy. Kelani also shoots Abeokuta beautifully, making it appear to be a picturesque tropical city with greenery and Ulumo Rock dominating the drone shots. Another plus is that the entire film is shot in Yoruba, staying true to the region the film is based in, instead of opting for English in an attempt to appeal to an international audience.

The only downsides of this movie is that it doesn’t feel complete. It feels more like a bunch of episodes of Ayinla’s life that have been pieced together. The only thin plot-line is that of Ayinla preparing for his trip to London, but even this only begins to guide the story in the final part of the movie. As pointed out by Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku for afrocritik the film also introduces a lot of plot points that are never developed – such as Ayinla’s pregnant wife. Luckily the music for the most part covers up for the lack of plot.

For anyone into Nigerian music, or biopic style movies on making it in the music industry, Ayinla is worth a watch. It’s a decent tribute to both Ayinla Omowura and Abeokuta, the colorful city that both the director and the music star share.

Check back to our Pan African Film Festival 2022 page for more reviews coming out of the 30th edition of the festival.