Unfortunately Tremors carries the same name as a much more famous B-movie monster film from Hollywood. However, whilst they’re vastly different, they do share one thing in common: they’re both tongue-in-cheek comedies. Instead of laughing at the absurd huge worm like monsters in the 1990’s American version, you can laugh at the absurd response to the outing of a closeted gay man embedded in an upper class family life in Guatemala. It’s fun watching their stiff upper lips curl in long periods melodramatic weeping. The extremist gay conversion therapy that Pablo’s devout catholic family force him to attend to keep them together takes the satire to another level. All we can do is enjoy the levels the family goes to in order to hide their shame. Pablo’s out-and-proud lover is the only sane person in the film and watches Pablo’s family bewildered like us as it slowly disintegrates.
Ever wondered what life would be like growing up in the back of a converted East German truck with an alcoholic con man for a father, a practicing witch doctor for a mum, and your father’s second wife who’s probably young enough to be your sister. Well, here’s your chance to experience it. Join the crazy road trip in Suleiman Mountain.
Maybe you’ve heard about persecution against people with albinism in Tanzania and other parts of Africa. Witch doctors believe their body parts will grant their customers prosperity so they’ve butchered some people with albinism for their magical powers. It’s pretty horrific. White Shadow follows one teenager with albinism as he tries to escape persecution and live a normal life.
Dakan is the first Sub-Saharan African film to deal with homosexuality. The focus of the film is the plight of two high school lovers in a society rejects them. They don’t fit into traditional or modern Guinean society, shown through Manga’s ‘traditional’ mother and Sori’s ‘modern’ father. As a result, they’re condemned to a life without love.
Dakan experienced a lot of protests in Guinea during its production, and once you see the first scene, you’ll understand why. For many countries around the world, homosexuality is taboo or illegal, so to have an opening scene of two men making out in an orange convertible like a scene from an American hetero high school romance is a bit of a shock for the world’s conservative viewers.
The two lovers are both high school students hoping to get into university. They openly show affection for each other at school, where they are largely accepted and left alone, but at home their relationship provides a source of friction for their parents. For Manga’s single mother, she sees Manga’s relationship with Sori as a curse that will deprive her of grandchildren. In contrast, Sori’s father sees Sori’s relationship with Manga as a distraction from his studies and his prosperous future in business.
They also differ in their way of stopping their son’s relationship. Manga’s mum relies on traditional methods, sending Manga away to a traditional witch doctor to be cured. In contrast, Sori’s father, a ‘modern’ businessman, sends Sori to work for him in his company. However, neither route changes how they feel about each other. Their solemn faces throughout the film only emphasizes that there is no place for them in a traditional society founded on the family, or a ‘modern’ society founded on economic growth. There’s no place for their love in Guinea.
Overall Dakan is a good African film that uses homophobia to talk about the common African and third cinema tropes of modernity and tradition. There was a moment in Dakan where I feared the film would turn into an HIV disaster film like Kijiji Changu but fortunately Mohamed Camara doesn’t diminish the relatively progressive portrayal of homosexuality in Africa.
What to Watch Next
If you’re looking for more films from the global south that portray homosexual relationships in countries that don’t have a place for it, check out Jose from Guatemala and Rafiki from Kenya.
Or for more witch doctors trying to cure people in Africa, Zambia’s unique I Am Not A Witch is a must watch.
Finally for more films that feature Romeo + Juliet relationships that are forbidden by society, check out Tanna, featuring an controversial relationship that crosses tribes in Vanuata.
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