Having started the year with Uganda's first action movie, the ultra low-budget smash hit Who Killed Captain Alex?, there is no better way to wrap this year than by returning to Wakaliwood in order to bring my 2021 journey in film full circle. A powerhouse of unbridled energy & limitless creativity, Bad Black is yet another fun, enjoyable & wholesome delight from the humble artists operating from the slums of Wakaliga.
Written, produced, directed, edited & photographed by Nabwana I. G. G., what excludes his works from the "so bad it's good" category is the actual zest, drive & imagination behind his efforts. Its comparison to a movie like The Room has no merit coz where Tommy Wiseau's disaster had us laughing at his utter incompetency, Nabwana's film has us sharing a laugh with him & his crew but with an admiration for what he pulls off with just $65 budget.
Bad Black features a story that has it all: action, drama, crime, conflict, conspiracy, bizarre twists & more, all presented in a wicked non-linear structure and accompanied by Video Joker Emmie's rib-tickling narration that makes the ride endlessly amusing. As before, the film exudes a genuine sense of joy which allows the love, heart & honesty to shine through in ways that even the best of Hollywood fails to produce most times despite all their money & resources.
Overall, Bad Black makes for a wild, hilarious & rambunctious offering from the self-taught Ugandan filmmaker who makes magic happen with mere scraps of filmmaking tools and gets maximum mileage out of minimal resources. The primary purpose of movies is to entertain, and Bad Black more than delivers on that. A labour of love in all its unadulterated glory, this Wakaliwood epic runs entirely on Nabwana's passion for filmmaking and is as endearing as it is ridiculously entertaining.
