I Am Not a Witch

I Am Not a Witch (2017) is a Zambia/UK/France/Germany production. The film was written and directed by Rungano Nyoni, who was born in Zambia and moved to Wales as a child.

The movie stars Maggie Mulubwa as Shula, a young girl who arrives in a rural Zambian village and is arbitrarily accused and convicted of witchcraft.

It's hard for us to believe, but in Zambia there actually are witch camps, which are convict gangs for women accused of being witches. (I checked local news sources, and apparently this is true.)

The witches are usually older women, but a child is accepted as a witch. Each witch has to wear a long canvas "ribbon," which prevents her from traveling further away from the camp than the length of the canvas. (They're attached to the ribbons by a device worn on the back.) Little Shula is told that if she cuts the ribbon, she will be turned into a goat.

The corrupt government official, Mr. Banda (portrayed by Henry B.J. Phiri) is like corrupt government officials everywhere. He's fawning to his superiors, and ruthless to those under his control.

It's hard to say I enjoyed the movie, but my eyes were glued to the screen for the entire time. The situation was so outrageous that I couldn't believe that this is Zambian reality.

The movie is well directed and well photographed. It wish it were fantasy, but it's not. We saw the film at its Rochester premiere at the wonderful Dryden Theatre at the George Eastman Museum. It will work almost as well on a small screen.

Find it an watch it, painful as that may be. It's a window into another world.

P.S. I want to make note of the work of Nellie Munamonga as Police Officer Josephine. Josephine appears smarter than anyone else in the film. She surely doesn't believe in witchcraft. However, she has a job to do and she does it. You might think she would take pity on this small, frightened child, but she doesn't. She asks for orders, and she carries them out. After all, orders are orders.

A little girl somewhere in Africa is accused by villagers of being a witch, and unable to defend herself, is sent to live in a colony of witches. They're essentially slaves, who at the whim of government officials, do manual labor in the fields, use their powers to single out thieves from line-ups, and summon the rain. It's a dystopian world with imagery that reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale, and indeed, both share the same noxious cocktail of superstition, cruelty, and the patriarchy.

While an exaggeration, the film is believable, which is part of why it's so disturbing. The other lies in the points director Rungaro Nyoni makes, none sharper than the tourists pulling up and seeing a group of people in captivity, being told they're dangerous witches held only in check by the long ribbons they're attached to, and, instead of expressing outrage, taking pictures with their phones.

The film is well made, with solid cinematography and a soundtrack that blends Vivaldi, Estelle, and traditional music (a dirge of which was wonderful). However, I found myself curious to know the backstory for the little girl or the other women kept in captivity, and wish this had been fleshed out more as drama. Not only is the title line never uttered, but the only time someone questions what's going on is a TV host who asks briefly, and after we see a dumbfounded reaction from the functionary, the film cuts away. There's undoubtedly a point there, one of complicity and how hard it is to question an entrenched system everyone is going along with, but it makes for pretty sad viewing.

There are several very interesting podcasts available online where the director explains how she found the protagonist girl (Benfors 'Wee Do) by accident. She also mentions that in some scenes, she wanted to deal with the film's central theme with humour, instead of forcing the viewer to feel guilty for laughing. It may be due to ignorance or lack of knowledge of the cultural context but personally, I did not feel the delicate line between humour and seriousness, between fairy tale and reality. For this very reason, I found these motifs overtly forced and simply too symbolic. At the same time, it is a movie with a really strong imagery and important message. The potential for catharsis is there all the way through the film but sadly, it just did not happen for me this time.

I am Not a Witch is a hilarious and harrowing tale from one of the finest new voices.

I am Not a Witch is the debut film from Zambian-born director Rungano Nyoni. It tells the story of a young girl, Shula, accused of witchcraft after a trivial mishap. The phenomenon in Zambia relates not to a cackling Shakespearean witch, but a relatively innocuous kind. These witches change the weather, read minds, and would fly away if untethered. Purportedly. It is a ludicrous social construction used by selfish men to oppress women. Although the subject matter is alarming, the narrative mostly filters through the comedy of its absurdity. The humour is at times reminiscent of Sacha Baron Cohen's movies or Monty Python. It's probably the grandiose confidence of foolish characters. There is a moment where the whole judicial system is reduced to Shula's guess.

But a deeper meaning flutters behind the comedy, like the platform behind a racing train. Seen only in the flashes of space between the carriages. This movie certainly has a dark side. And the unexpected appearance of the cold reality almost grated against the lighthearted side. The dark truth appears every now and then like a needle scratched off a record. This is by no means a bad thing. It makes the glimpses of truth all the more impactful after you inevitably lose yourself in the comedy again. The reality behind the movie is no more forgiving once the credits roll, because it ends on one final needle scratch, and leaves you to digest the movie, and its relation to our modern world. There are obvious parallels between the African political system, or lack thereof, and the Trump Administration and post-truth media.

The deep truth underlying this movie needs to be heard.

The cinematography of I am Not a Witch is also excellent. The shots are very minimalist, giving a sense of realism and intimacy with the narrative, and there are dashes of creative flair, with lingering shots during the realist scenes.

Review from Student Pages: https://www.studentpages.biz/i-am-not-witch-review/

I'm disappointed there aren't more reviews on this superb little film, considering it's the work of a first time director who shows impressive talent and promise. The good: excellent camera work which uses the parched landscape of rural Zambia to great effect, reinforcing the interior lives of the characters and moving the story forwards. The little girl is superb in the role, one of the greatest performances I've seen from a child actor in a long time, she conveys everything without speaking, simply from her expression or body language. Incredible. Plenty to read into the film, the three friends I went with had plenty to say about it afterwards and we all agreed the themes it explored apply to every human culture, not just an African one. the same behaviours and ways people delude themselves or accept ridiculous beliefs because they want to belong, the way human societies find someone to scapegoat and project on to that person all of the groups ills, all this is depressingly familiar. My only criticism is this is again a film of Afro pessimism, there's precious few films from the continent making it on to cinema screens, the only ones I can think of recently are Felicite, Johnny Mad Dog. Both somewhat gloomy subject matter. it would be nice to see some films that offered a different perspective. Having lived and worked in Africa I know there's a lot more to the continent than child witches, child soldiers, FGM, HIV epidemics, diseases, starvation corrupt leaders and so on... People get on in much the way they do anywhere, making the best of what little they have...