This is a striking, haunting, sometimes funny and ultimately moving debut film from Welsh-Zambian writer-director Rungano Nyoni. A young girl finds herself accused of being the witch who caused a woman to drop her pale of water; as a result she finds herself living with other so-called witches, all older women. She, like all of them, has a giant bobbin of white ribbon attached to her wherever she goes - this controls all the accused, having been told they will turn into a goat should they break it and try to free themselves. A government minister knows a money-maker when he sees one, and uses the young girl as a kind of travelling show, predicting rain and identifying accused thieves.
Part satire, part feminist critique of patriarchy, part reflection on childhood, this film is never polemical but no less the powerful for it. The brilliant cinematography reminded me of 12 Years A Slave; though a very different film, this film shares the Oscar winner's long, lingering shots asking us - especially the white, Western observer, just what it is we are waiting or expecting to see. White characters are few and far between, and when they do surface, they're either bemused or excruciatingly patronising. The film feels careful and real; the director spent time in Ghana, living in official 'witch camps'; it's odd to discover, then, that the white ribbons are her own invention. They do make for some striking visual statements against the greys and browns of the landscape, but they may be a visual metaphor too far. They play a key role in the film's abrupt, potentially ambiguous ending which may frustrate or move in equal measure, a clever use of sound over the closing shot and credits emphasising that this is no rationalist critique of African superstition.
There is more - much more - to come from this young film-maker, which makes such a startling and confident debut all the more exciting, sacrificing little in tone, vision or aesthetic. As she does so, she runs the risk fo alienating the more casual Western viewer. But lauded at film festivals, she is clearly already an important and emerging voice with a flair for weaving gentle humour alongside subtle power.
Part satire, part feminist critique of patriarchy, part reflection on childhood, this film is never polemical but no less the powerful for it. The brilliant cinematography reminded me of 12 Years A Slave; though a very different film, this film shares the Oscar winner's long, lingering shots asking us - especially the white, Western observer, just what it is we are waiting or expecting to see. White characters are few and far between, and when they do surface, they're either bemused or excruciatingly patronising. The film feels careful and real; the director spent time in Ghana, living in official 'witch camps'; it's odd to discover, then, that the white ribbons are her own invention. They do make for some striking visual statements against the greys and browns of the landscape, but they may be a visual metaphor too far. They play a key role in the film's abrupt, potentially ambiguous ending which may frustrate or move in equal measure, a clever use of sound over the closing shot and credits emphasising that this is no rationalist critique of African superstition.
There is more - much more - to come from this young film-maker, which makes such a startling and confident debut all the more exciting, sacrificing little in tone, vision or aesthetic. As she does so, she runs the risk fo alienating the more casual Western viewer. But lauded at film festivals, she is clearly already an important and emerging voice with a flair for weaving gentle humour alongside subtle power.