Omuzimu Gw'obulogo

What would it be like to be raised in the woods to take care of the shrines of the ancients? That is the question this one looks to answer...and many more. It takes you through the lives of some that are received and others rejected and what it takes for those that are received to become part of the 'fellowship' to serve the 'gods'. As always the presentations are full of humor and references only those who have grown up in the village will appreciate. John Bosco Kasirye, Bbaale Richard, Moses Magezi and Ntege Moses are some of the actors that feature in this one. 

Obusungu Bw'eddogo

The graphics work in this one are interesting. It is the story of about life in the village and the struggles that the community has to go through when almost every member has some kind of access to the mic arts. An Kidde Eastled and Mutebi Ronald Film, this presentation has a large cast of notable personalities and follows the lives of villagers as they engage in tit for tat fights against each other. There battles are also generational between kids, adults and also 'doctors' as we refer to them here. There is an interesting interplay of activities between the one generation that is more attended to the magic arts than another and the way in which the two generations 'transfer' power one to another. 

If you are not a believer you might be when you watch this. The writers have a skill in making you realize that you are watching fiction but leaving enough doubt about the daily activities that you go through. 

Circle

The experts do not seem to think much of this film. Oh but it is so much more given the current debate and back and forth between social media giants, a maor research group and several governments and their opposition counterparts (many of whom are crying foul). Emma Watson already put on a fantastic performance in Beauty and the Beast. And they managed to serve up two Emma in one!

Anyhow this time around Circle is dealing with heavy stuff...and not faltering. A social media group with quite an audience is having some discussions abut growth when one of the employees comes up with the brilliant (or not so) idea of using this influence to transform the democratic process. The circle is written in a world where we are connected frighteningly close to the point of imprisonment and surveillance. 

The film therefore attempts to deal with Quesitions that could arise in a connected world with the usual presentations about crime free settings. It almost feels a little like what happens in robocop when the machine can scan through its databases while looking at a crowd to discover and identify the perpetrators of crime and carry out instant arrests. 

The film felt like it was an indictment to social media and it's corresponding businesses and the relationship between Chiefs felt Iike a parallel between CEOs currently in the limelight and their female colleagues-in a moment thrust into the front row to deal with a sticky situation. 

Tom Hanks delivers as he always does. It's just a little uncomfortable seeing him as the bad guy! 

Omusajja agwana mukalegga.

This one feels much more like it would have flourished as a series. It has the largest cast I have seen in a single movie. The story is done well and has quite a number of twists and turns. It is effectively about a guy who gets the girl...but gets a ton more than what he bargains for. 

This is a film about duality. A presentation of two practitioners of traditional. The real (one guy who seems to deliver) and the fake (another who simply uses his networks and technology). it also has two women. One content while the other not. It has two men one rich and one seeking to be rich. It is done by Ramon Productions. They have made a name for themselves for being the go to group for Action Sequences. Some have even described the director of these as the Ugandan Quentin Tarantino. 

His films are headquartered in Wakaliga which has become known as Wakaliwood. This crew gave us Who Killed Captain Alex, they also gave us Ani Mulalu (who is really crazy) which went far beyond the usual NGO funded projects about saving the lives of children and awareness raising to an effective local action packed hit. Maybe the film was slightly negative in its portrayal of rich people as kid snatchers but these are the ideas that have filtered through the press. His most recent one talks of collaboration with Dolph Londgren. Another one that Is out is called Million  Dollar Child-about a wiz kid who has developed a tool that helps him control people. It is also described as the Uganda's version of the Expendables (operations kakongolilo).*

*Kakongolilo is a maize cob. 

Nantaba-The devil within

This one is a collaborative effort by a host of talented actors many of whom work with family members in drama groups that have dominated the screen and production houses for years. The most popular of these is probably Theatre La Bonita and VCR Studios. Others Were created and merged much later. In the sixties and seventies the themes that dominated the stage were mainly political and cultural. The drama groups were as important as they would have been in other centers of power. Functioning to keep the royal house laughing and communicating tough subjects. Many production houses have sprung up from these groups and after years of performance many have become household names. 

Nantaba is about a goddess who rules an Island. She is served by men and will not tolerate the presence of women. 

We expect quite a clash when a stranger uses a groups of women (innocently plying their street trade) into his house where he manages to capture them. Will they escape his grasp. Will the culturally frightening host accept these new guests? What will happen to the adherents of her faith when confronted with these issues. 

In two parts this one should also be fun to watch. The graphics work is impressive as is the choice of sets for production. This film gives you an insiders view in the hidden world of traditional religion and uses current events to question ideas that abound about faith and practice and tradition. 

Kirevu-Soul Taker

So what happens when you throw away articles given to you by de-gods designed to help you prosper? This is the plot of a story about the relationship between gods and men in the Ugandan setting. The movie is a collaborative project by Delta TV Uganda and MK Video Center as well as VJ Emmy (who handled the translation/voice over work). The production house is called Media Arc Films and it is written by Steven Mwanje, Produced, Directed and Edited by Musisi David Lubega. 

Ronald Magezi who starred in Omuzimu Gw'obulogo, Angela Nakuya who takes on the role of the Msambwa (half woman half spirit). 

This one delivers some genuine suspense and in our view is an exploration of the relationships.  Gods and men, between men and women and between men and their family members. 

Personally it is an in depth look at agreements, contracts or blood covenants which people of faith engage in. The graphics are also impressive. 

You could see some parallels between the title and the ideas behind this production with something that others have explored-the sin eater. The belief that in some cultures certain people are supposed to be devoted to the cleansing of others by consuming that which would be considered 'defiled'. In other cultures, it's was a piece of bread that was found on the body of one that had passed. The act of eating the bread was considered to be method of purifying the soul of the deceased. There are currently two under the same title. The first was of an much earlier period of U.S history, while the second used Rome and the Vatican as its primary backdrop. 

Ideas that stand out in this Uganda film are about souls and judgement and the ability of some to split the soul into two. As well as the ability to consume souls of less obedient beings. 

Ekinanba 7 The Number Seven

This one definitely delivered on the all the hype that was built around it. 

It is a healthy mix of tragedy and comedy with interesting infusions of Faith. It is structured around them life of a young woman and her family. Set in a rural place the film follows the couple through challenges that threaten not just their marriage but their lives. 

The couple must depend on their friends and family for solutions to their problems. We see interesting explorations of faith and culture (traditional belief). 

The director makes full use of the locations and the limitations present with these choices. It is possible that the choice of the rural setting and the scene selections help add quite a lot to the mystery and the sense of restriction that life in the village presents to its inhabitants.

A day or two before the celebration of Women's Day, you will be pleasantly surprised to learn that the director, writer and supporting role actress role is all done by one named Joan Namirimu. 

The jury is still out regarding the role of voice overs in Ugandan Cinema so we look forward to seeing if some of these leading pictures will have as much an effect sans commentary. 

An interesting side note. The directions often given by traditional practitioners (virgin birds in this case) often seem awfully close to some of the tasks that were given by ancient Greeks (golden fleeces, battles with Hydra). 

Eddogo Mu Kika-Makungura Ki?

This is a film in two parts directed by Katongole Henry Joy. 

The story is set in both rural and urban settings and tackles broad themes common to people in dealing with growth and change. It attempts to create a picture what life would be like if we were to resort to the use of the magic arts for our preservations. 

There is a marked difference between what in Swahili is called Miti Shamba (Eddagala Lyeki Nansi) and what can broadly be described as  Urogi (WitchCraft) the former in English would be called Traditional Medicine mainly making use of herbs, roots and leaves or different plants and trees versus the use of both secret herbs and portions mainly accompanied by words and belief as well as the backing of ancestors to effect change in the lives of everyday people. 

The film is thus an attempt to explore the effect of these activities on a family and the way in which those that are affected deal with these challenges. 

The choice of cast was good as well as location. There is a good combination of plot twists that leave you genuinely concerned and expectant. There are several scenes that help put typical rural life in perspective. 

The film is part of a category that was created to make International film more accessible but that has obviously become a 'thing' within itself. It is almost impossible to imagine watching anything local that is not accompanied by voice over (enjogelele). 

A large groups of people that make up our population have strong Christian belief and a fair sharing of traditional practice to contend with these ideas. As such the manner in which local people juggle these two conflicting worlds makes for great entertainment. Almost all of the effective urban church movements devote a good amount of their time tackling traditional belief and the ideas that many hold onto about the possibility of ill will from others and bad luck. 

The 'traditional doctor' or conjurer is therefore often part of the extended family responsible for all sorts of progress and pain. There are battles to revive these traditional beliefs as many begin to deal with late or undelivered packages of change and development that have not been received. This could cause a rift between the Kingdoms and 

Cultural Institutions on one hand and the Faiths which have benefitted on the whole in the post colonial age. 

There is a slight reference to the this in the film with a brief appearance of a bible. The message is clear though in the title which asks the question-Mukungura Ki (loosely translated as what do you gain or harvest).

Black Panther

Zoe Saldana is an attractive actress. She featured in an interesting movie where she has to deal with some adversaries from her past (Colombiana). 

You got the sense that you wanted to see a lot more of her on the screen. But that was not going to happen at least not in the format in which I wished to see her. I share these sentiments with many and when I searched for images and Information about her and more at her films, I found good stuff on the Internet...as in box office moving stuff but almost all these were about creatures from other planets. There were very few in which she featured in full. Not many where we got to see her as the real attractive talented blossoming actress that she is. There is Avatar (2009) Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, 2017) and Star Trek (2016). 

So my feelings about the emergence of a new presentation about Black super heroes is mixed (Black Panther). It's projected success notwithstanding. 

I want to see people celebrated for being ordinary. Like taking care of kids and growing plants and doing regular work. I want to see a sense in many of us where we do not despise those things that are just...well regular things that regular people do. I do not see why we should get so excited that we are finally part of the life of make belief. This while we sit somewhat half embarrassed at grandma's remedies and recipes because they are too primitive or backward or worse than that devilish. 

Ani Mulalu: whose the crazy one?

So we promised you our first review of a Ugandan made movie. Here goes. 

The title to the film is called Ani Mulalu? Which means who is the crazy one. In the local Ganda language you have a play on words that differentiates between "omulalu" and "omugwi we ddalu". This subtle difference is kind of the essence of the movie. It seeks to split between hairs in describing the one who has a moment of insanity and one who really crosses the line. This is the story of the man...a soldier who returns from the his tour of duty and has to deal with the challenge of a kidnapping. We leave it there in order not to ruin the rest of the tale for you. 

The director is called Isaac Nabwana. His work is done under the banner of Ramon Film Productions. From what I gather, there have been quite a number of projects that have been done using the help of multitudes via kick starter. 

There have been previous discussion of this director and his work notably from the BBC (which should be commended for spotlighting not just Uganda's growing film industry but also traveling the continent spotlighting  music from all sorts of genres). 

It is currently too costly to engage specialists who would blow up cars as well as provide stunt doubles so what this director does is make full use of the green screen and a decent set of graphic designers for post editing work. The review from the BBC featured a young American lad who after hearing and seeing some of Isaac's work did what most adventurous Americans do and took a plane to Uganda. Next thing he knows he was assigned a role which had him skipping through puddles of raw...stuff. 

The enthusiastic American described Mr. Nabwana's style as similar to Quentin Tarantino possibly because of the shaky camera style and tendency towards plenty of blood and guts. This could be true. You get the sense at least in his action flick that a wedding is taking place between old school Chinese cinema and Tarantino's no holds barred style of shooting and presentation. 

Personally they had me when the presented their version of camouflage or at least what it would be like to do so in an urban trash filled setting. 

The film was shot to deal with some delicate subject matter after kidnappings increased in the city. We are certain though that they delivered much more than that. The scene on the whole has changed and it has felt at least for me that fact and fiction are harder to split. So In this regard for the whole industry both local and international I hope that we can find some meeting ground. 

The jury is still out regarding the case between voice overs and movie producers as well as resellers of these movies but for those that have a knowledge of the local language there is plenty of overkill. You get the sense that the film would be much better if it were left to exist in the current language even if the voice over guys have a tendency of making it much more enjoyable. Maybe infusing these movies with deliberate voice overs would be a decent proposal and stylistic element all in itself. 

Ramon Film Productions is one to watch if you ask me.