It’s perhaps ironic that, at the beginning of the film, the allure and comfort of the past coincides with its traumatic impact for the protagonist of Zambian-Welsh writer-director Rungano Nyoni’s sophomore feature. Shula (Susan Chardy), dressed in an iconic throwback look—Missy Elliot’s voluminous black jumpsuit and metallic headpiece from her 1997 music video for “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”—is on the way home from a fancy dress party when, on the side of the road, she finds her Uncle Fred’s dead body. Her reaction is impassive; her more expressive cousin, Nsansa (Elizabeth Chisela), then inexplicably shows up, and the tense familial dynamic begins to unfold as we learn of the uncle’s sexual molestation of Shula, Nsansa, and other female family members. Set in the Zambian suburbs, the film deals also with the tension between modernity, as represented by Shula (who drives a nice car and seems to have a white-collar job), and tradition, manifesting here in the context of longstanding familial trauma. Much like Nyoni’s debut feature I Am Not a Witch (2017), there’s a quiet conviction to the proceedings, letting the hypocrisy and resultant upheaval speak for themselves, with a bit of humor to highlight and temper the dark absurdity; there’s an assuredness to Nyoni’s filmmaking that’s yielded an impressive consistency. A recurring motif of rooms being unceremoniously flooded with water calls to mind the films of Tsai Ming-liang, suggesting a similar hypnotizing quality even as the films’ stories are rooted in real life. Its title is inspired by a children’s show that Shula and her peers are shown to have watched, which shows us viewers that guinea fowls are a symbol of protection as animals that alert others to danger. The seemingly metaphorical title takes on a more literal meaning as the film progresses, further differentiating the sometimes misguided whimsy of tradition and the concrete actions of those brave enough to seek change. PG-13, 99 min.
Gene Siskel Film Center
Reader Recommends: FILM & TV
Our critics review the best on the big and small screens and in the media.
Julie Keeps Quiet is a technically precise film with a call to action.
Warfare is a complex sonic assault based on real experiences.
A Working Man is a solid action film with a giddy self-awareness.
Black Bag, Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp’s latest collaboration, is a nimble spy thriller.
Carson Lund’s feature debut, Eephus, thoughtfully documents what it means to care about something that might ultimately be futile.
The Day the Earth Blew Up is both a loving throwback to early Looney Tunes animations and an impressive standalone feature film.