Critique of the Movie M’bomposseh

M’bomposseh is one of the movies that any movie lover could crave to watch and sit till the end. The genre is an epic set in the pre-colonial era, somewhere in Sierra Leone.

M’bomposseh, daughter of a chief who yearned for a male child that could become heir to his throne ran away because she could not bear the rudimental aspect of the Bondo society. Her uncle murders her father because he was thirst for power. Two communities set apart engaged in a battle of domination because of the silly mistake of a chief’s son who can only prove his worth to the father. From living in a forest with a hunter, she becomes the saviour of a community under attack, only to unit all communities later because her family root has a tie with all.  Though so strong, M’bomposseh fell in love with one of the weakest young men who set to prove his love for her by intimidating the chief’s son and daughter from a rival community.

In my view, the director did his best to tell the story right. He achieved the arc of storytelling because he presented the beginning, the middle and the end well. He was also able to preach a message about the strength of a woman even though society looks upon her with a different view.

The film was done in two languages, Krio and Temne while the culture was set in the latter. It is a sort of cultural transportation that the director was able to achieve. In that people out of Sierra Leone, that may watch M’bomposseh can have an understanding of some aspects of Sierra Leone culture.

The casting was just in-line with the characterization while the time laps between the young and old just matched. The soundtrack is original, the shot and camera angles are great, and I think one of the selling points of the movie is the bird-eye-view opening shot that entices one to sit and want to see more.

The lead, the M’bomposseh role played by Aminata Aminash Kabba just did well even though every character has a weakness. Her own weakness happens to be love, the turning point of the story, the third point of the story arc which gives great leverage to the director, Joseph Fiamaple to end it well. All the supporting cast did well and it shows clearly that good casting is one great aspect for the director to achieve his/her niche of visual storytelling.

However, as Africans, we need to improve on how we showcase our props. Most African movie directors have not been able to depict the actual way our ancestors handled the bow and arrow when in actual sense the white man copied it from us. But to crown it all, this is a good movie to watch because there is a lot to learn from it from every aspect of filmmaking.