Samanya 40 Days

Samanya 40 days is an interesting take on the life of a policeman fighting crime. There are quite a number of references to the pioneering work of Wakaliwood’s Ramon Film Production (and the Wakastars who are now all grown up) which made films like Who Killed Captain Alex, Million Dollar Kid and Ani Mulalu (who is the crazy one). RFP became popular a few years ago and was referred to as Uganda’s Quentin Tarantino. 

Samanya is a story revolving around a young officer rising in the ranks of his crime fighting unit and the challenges that he and his family face. There are really several plots in one and quite a number of characters and a span of time that is a breath of fresh air at least in terms of film style. The writter who also stars in the film tackles a number of themes such as child abuse, tragedy, corruption, torchure, fate, the interconnectedness of life and much more. To be fair i felt like there was a lot more that could have emerged from this film. Maybe the writter and director (Segawa Abbey) can be approached to expand the story and add multiple authors as do other production studios. Also starring in this story are Mugera Godfrey, Jackie Tumusime, Ramc Tabu, Nyanzi Liz and 

Ssozi Patrick. 

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).