Barkomo (2019, Aboubacar Bablé Draba / Boucary Ombotimbé)

 Here is a film that IMDb doesn't know. In some time I have been interested in Films from Africa. I know there is much to find, but where? Distribution is a major issue, another availability. I am really thankful that the service Festival Scope has made several films from Africa available for online viewing. Of course, not all of these films are masterworks, but many are worth a watch. Without a record in IMDb, however, we cannot know that they exist at all. Also the two film makers are not known to IMDb.

Mali - undefined time. A hunter has been married for ten years, but they haven't had children yet. The wife suggests that he takes a second wife. When he does so and when she gives birth to a boy, the inevitable quarrel between the two wives start. The humiliated first wife goes away and comes to the realm of the King of Barkomo. In his realm nature has taken revenge for a not permitted human sacrifice. Nature may be reconciled when certain conditions are fulfilled.

The exiled wife of the hunter is to her big surprise pregnant. The king of Barkomo takes her as his second wife and it shows that her son is the one that can reconcile the nature. 

Many years later has this boy a conflict with the son of the king's first wife.

Barkomo tells the founding myth of the Dogon culture. The film shows and tells and doesn't necessarily explain. Impressive pictures are supported by a suggestive score. The editing is superb The acting is not first-class. Most actors seems to recite their lines in an unnatural manner. Still this is a fascinating look into a generally not much known culture. 

8/10

18 Hours (2017, Njue Kevin)

In October 2015 Mr Alex Madaga was hit by a car in Kenya's capital Nairobi. The paramedics tried to get him to a hospital for 18 hours. When they finally came to a hospital that would take Madaga, his condition had become so critical, that his life was lost. This is the true event on which Njue Kevin wrote the film 18  Hours.
When someone makes a film about a known incident, one reason is to accuse a bad state of affairs and to raise consciousness about a deficit. Kevin succeeds in this respect. The editing of this film creates a continuous suspense. We follow the paramedics Zack and Mark in their run against the clock and have the vain hope, that they may succeed, although we know that this is a vain hope.
The acting is also quite good, anyway much better than often seen in other African films I have seen.
Unfortunately the script is not very strong. Many lines feel like taken from a text book. Other dialogues are painfully clichéd, fx. like God's silence and forgiving. However, the actors (Nick Ndeda and Brian Ogola) manage to deliver these lines in a life-like fashion.
I am grateful that Festival Scope shows at the moment a selection of films from Africa. I am surprized to learn about films, of which existence I didn't know before. I am amazed to see how much talent there is - and talent that rarely gets a chance to tell their stories. I would like to follow the career. And I wish that Africa no longer is the unseen continent on the silver screen.
8/10