Order 618323: African Cinema

Notes on War Witch

This may be the most painful movie of all semester. Still, I find it nothing short of gorgeous and am guessing you might as well.

Big Issues

What must be done to the soul to go into combat at any age? Is combat ever justified? For all the Mahatmas (Gandhi, Martin Luther King, even eventually Mandela etal) who say “no,” counter-arguments can surely be made. I’m thinking of that great spiritual book of the East, India’s Bhagavadgita, for instance, that talks of duty and honor as finally the only way to righteous, let alone peace. Nearly every tradition has its variant of this, especially in terms of defending, let alone nurturing one’s country/tribe. But what about the children? What kind of world cataclysm must one be preparing for to imagine forcing children not even to become soldiers but “beasts of no nation.” What kind of greed or drive to power/ cynicism can even imagine that? Although the exact quote escapes me, I’m thinking of the saying that goes something like this: “history is the chronicle of the wreckage of civilization.” And yet, there is hope in this film.

So what about rehabilitation for former child soldiers? Data seems to suggest that there really is hope. I no longer remember where I read the story of one African center that brought in women large enough to fold the children into their flesh as they repeated again and again and again: “it was not your fault.” One really has to hope funding for those programs doesn’t dry up.

Historical Issues:

Our director has intentionally placed his film somewhere/anywhere rather than one place in particular. As you are aware, child soldiering goes on in literally dozens of countries throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East. A partial “list of shame” compiled by the United Nations includes: Afghanistan, Central Africa Republic, Congo, Iraq, Mali, Miramar (Burma), Nigeria, Philippines, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and on and on.

Cinematic Issues

I’d like us to return to the question of whether the films we’ve seen on Africa that have been made by non-Africans feel qualitatively different from the films made by Africans. This, of course, is an old question related in the current watchword “cultural appropriation.” Other versions, of course, is can somebody raised in the middle class write authentically, let alone authoritatively, on poverty, or white folks writing about black, or in my case, an Irish-American writing on Cuba.

This film puts all these questions what imho is a delish mix since again imho, this film feels African, whatever that means. It was, however, made by Kim Nguyen, a Canadian, the child of Vietnamese refugees. Go figure.

He says: “I did not want this to be an ‘educational’ film about politics per se. I wanted to do this film as if I were a young child, a 14 year old girl, who didn’t know or understand about politics. I wanted to make a movie about child soldiers through the eyes of a 14 year old girl.”

One might argue that when one sets out not to “educate,” but examine one life in depth one is rendering the best “education” possible.

The director’s 14-year-old heroine had, in fact, been living on the streets in Congo. Interestingly enough, this young girl, cast as the War Witch, had been thrown out of her home when her family became convinced she was a witch. At the time of the filming, she did not know how to read or write.

The film was shot in ten days in Congo. The crew had soldiers protecting them with AK-47s. The director confessed he had not understood how dangerous it would be to try to shoot in off beaten track areas in Congo.

I’d be interested in knowing your thoughts of this compared with “Beasts of No Nation” since so many of you have probably seen that. “Beasts” shows violence far more graphically. I’m wondering which film you feel makes the most impact.

Reception

“War Witch” won any number of important awards. Perhaps most interesting were the high honors it was given from the NAACP.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/movies/war-witch-directed-by-kim-nguyen.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/africa/child-soldier-south- sudan.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0https

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35743577

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/10621792/Kon ys-child-soldiers-When-you-kill-fo