I Am Not a Witch

I was profoundly moved by I Am Not a Witch. Many members of the cast are in their first film feature, and all are stellar, especially Maggie Mulubwa, who plays Shula. Her face is so expressive. Director and writer, Rungano Nyoni, transported me to a place I'd never been. It's rural Zambia. It's modern day (I won't ever forget that the first time we see little Shula, she has a t-shirt that says #bootycall). Yet, it's a cultural phenomenon that I don't know much about, witch camps.

Despite the dire subject matter, there are comic moments. Many times that I wanted to laugh, though, I also wanted to cry, because the circumstances were ridiculous to me, and Shula is caught up in a world where she apparently has no control, no say in her own life. She's asked to resolve disputes, judge others, alter weather patterns, even be on display, when all she really wants is to be a 9 year old, go to school, be nurtured. In the end, we see parallels to other, more familiar, stories. It's haunting.

Cinematography by David Gallego and Art Direction by Malin Lindholm are perfection. The images will stay with you.

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'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...

The craft of child abuse, enslavement and controlling the innocent; this film has moments when the sheer absurdity makes you want to laugh and cry and scream concurrently.

This is one of those films where you will end up confused. Why, you ask. Well, for one you will not be certain of what is going on, or rather why things are going on. And secondly, you will not be certain whether you are supposed to feel uncomfortable throughout the film, or it is just a possible result of your own interpretation. It bodes that age-old question: what did the author want to say? Or in this case, the director.

I am not sure. Truly, not. Of course, there are traces of feminism here, socio-cultural critique, reclaiming Africanism rather than the post-colonial structures in place in Africa. That is all great. The story, however, is too rigid yet too vague. It doesn't make sense, does it? That's my point.

Acting is excellent, especially the young Maggie Mulubwa, who says more with her eyes than many actors can in any monologue or dialogue. Cinematography is beautiful, especially in relation to the ribbons that are allocated to the witches. Otherwise, the film's story is quite disturbing and disjointed. I felt uncomfortable throughout but was not quite sure if that was the feeling intended or just a mixture of discomfort and confusion as to what is going on.

Definitely worth a watch, but it is not something that would be easily understood or easily appreciated for its vagueness. Considering it is Rungano Nyoni's debut feature, I am sure she will easily build further on the fundaments she has established through I Am Not a Witch.