On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

"Shula" (Susan Chardy) is returning from a fancy dress party late one evening when she encounters a corpse on the road. A quick investigation reveals the body as that of her "Uncle Fred". She doesn't appear terribly upset at the news and neither does her partying father when she calls to tell him! Her evening doesn't get any better with the arrival of her drunken cousin "Nsansa" (Elizabeth Chisela) and when the police tell her they don't have enough vehicles to come and deal with it til the morning, she has to sleep in her car. What follows now sees us immersed in some of the rituals and traditions of a Zambian funeral, with grief - real and not so real - presented in a semi-comedic mix of ancient and modern behaviour. What also become clear is that "Shula" has a reason for her indifference and that this family, indeed their whole village, has unsavoury secrets to keep. What was curious for me, given the nature of the man's behaviour, was the extent to which the men were largely oblivious and the women almost entirely defensive of his true nature. Not of his behaviour in life, but of his reputation thereafter. He was clearly no great loss, yet his sisters grieve profoundly and lay the blame for his death squarely at his much younger wife who obviously hadn't looked after him properly. What's this to to with a guinea fowl, you might ask? Well it appears that they frequently serve as an early warning system for wildlife when predators approach, and so the allegory with the characterisation of "Shula" is clear to see as the story shines a light on established patterns of behaviour that still consider women as chattels. Aside from some engaging light-relief from the almost permanently sozzled "Nsansa", there isn't really enough development of the personas here and there's also not so much dialogue, per se. Just a great deal of plausible family chatter, angst and wailing amongst a community that treats death respectfully as the photography gets it's sleeves rolled up and takes us quite effectively into this bereft commune where there are spoils to be had, too. A lot of this is left to our own imagination and judgement, which is fine but a little lazy on the part of the writers who maybe hadn't quite the courage of their convictions when it came to delivering a more directly potent thrust, but it's still well worth a watch.

This film is a small miracle of storytelling about the lives and trials of women and girls, the families that uphold them, and the societal dysfunction that holds them back. Gorgeous, heart wrenching, and subtle.

The acting is superb as the characters are richly and slowly revealed. Susan Chardy shines in her performance, portraying Shula with a quiet ferocity the role merits.

Though, I didn't know about guinea fowl before seeing the film, I will never think about them the same way again after seeing the film.

Director Rungano Nyoni has triumphed with this film, voicing the realities of the women of Zaire's lives in a story with global resonance.

Protagonist Shula is driving home one day, when she finds the body of a dead relative in the middle of the road.

This event triggers the appearance of her *vast* extended family, all of which are fairly horrendous people, from the ignorant to the bigot to the superstitious, and Shula has to grin and bear it because they are family.

.. i mean .. it's competently made. It's reasonably well shot and it's definitively well acted. But this film (the majority of which is in, i think Nyanja, or some other Zambian dialect) is so culturally distant from me, that i simply cannot enjoy it. There is no way that i can ever project myself onto the protagonist, to understand what she feels, to share in her decisions. I felt more at easy with 1950s films from japan, in comparison to how i feel with this film.

It's not for me. And it's probably not for you either.

A beautiful film on a harsh topic. Nyoni presents a powerful reflection on the struggles of trying to change a world set travelling in ruts carved over centuries.

Perhaps some scenes fail to match the high standard Nyoni sets elsewhere in the film, but these do not detract from the overall force of the film.

Strong acting is presented through a tasteful and humorous use of both camera and colour. The technical direction takes what would be a solid performance by the cast and makes it even greater.

Nyoni portrays beautifully how to live in the face of grief and deep injustice. To survive together we need a will to live, and this can only come from shared joy. With no laughter we can only crawl.

This movie is hopeless... I kinda feel sorry I watched it. Where on earth is the comedy here?

The hypocrisy of these women is very triggering. Lashing at each other instead of pointing the finger at the real culprit, the one who caused so much suffering to plenty of women. The scene where they corner Shula and Nsansa to supposedly declare their love, but in reality to cover up for their own lies... Hated just about everybody here, to varying degrees, of course.

Blaming and abusing the widow like that was the last straw. These women are feeding the sexism under the guise of customs and traditions.