I Am Not a Witch

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...

At the time of this review, this film attained the elusive 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so naturally expectations were exceedingly high. Did Nyoni's feature debut fulfil my thirst for perfection? Not quite. An incident occurs in a remote Zambian village which leaves the villagers to believe that a young girl is a witch, consequently resulting in her being sent to a witches' camp. Contemporary, captivating and surprisingly comical, it's an indie flick that certainly meshes several dichotomies within a tonally inconsistent narrative. Illustrating the modernisation of Zambia but retaining the superstitious and traditional views of an ancient world. The segregation of (typically) older women into camps positioned outside of society is certainly a bleak perspective into the apparent sexism that arises within various cultures. Male characters certainly have more power and authority over females who are seemingly attached to strands of ribbon as if resembling prisoners. It's an intriguing and illusory picture that convincingly enables Nyoni to showcase both her artistry and viewpoint. Enigmatic long takes, a commanding central performance from Mulubwa and gorgeous cinematography by Gallego, there's various aspects to adore in what is a technically flawless film. The utilisation of Vivaldi's composed classical music juxtaposes the chaotic traditions that are being upheld within this community, plus...I love me some Vivaldi. It's unfortunate that I found this film slightly tedious to watch, and that's mainly down to the narrative. The clashing of dark deadpan humour and surreal dramatic perspectives did not blend well for me. It was a disorientating experience fuelled by ambiguity and vivid imagery that just wasn't fully comprehensible. It does occasionally lean towards style over substance. Although, this is still impressive work from Nyoni considering it's her feature debut. A promising career is ahead of her, yet it just wasn't able to cast a spell on me completely.

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 (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.

I sat down to watch it, and wasn't expecting much from the movie. Little did I know that I was in for some big laughs. The story is beautifully written, and the acting was superb, considering many of the cast were debuting. The cast, specifically the young Maggie Mulubwa and Henry B.J. Phiri played their roles exceptionally well. I highly recommend this movie. If you have a witty sense of humor, you'll love this movie. Kuddos to Rungano Nyoni.