Review : Chariot of the Gods by Anurin Nwunembom, a taste of unfinished

The film should have been officially released in Cameroon on December 04, 2020 but for reasons never explained, the release had been canceled and the film contented itself with a few screenings here and there in a few festivals. Thanks to the 8th edition of the Yarha festival, Chariots Of The Gods, Anurin Nwunembom‘s fourth feature film after Broken (2019) and Therapy (2020) was broadcast on November 3 at the French Institute of Cameroon in Yaoundé. This fourth feature film, curiously in competition in a festival intended for the first feature films, attracted several people for its first screening in the Cameroonian capital.

Chariots Of The Gods opens with a sign telling us that the film is inspired by a Bakweri (tribe of southwest Cameroon) legend, the legend of the Efasa Moto. According to this legend widely spread in southwest Cameroon, when people got lost in the mountains, it was a sign that the gods were angry. And to appease the gods, it was necessary to give them an albino child as a sacrifice. Chilling! And it is on this legend that this thriller, produced by Lucie Memba and her company LMB Prod, revolves.

The film starts with several young people who lead a research in the forest under the supervision of the village chief Mola Kingue played by Cosson Chinepoh. They are looking for some young men who would have got lost on the mountain. At least that’s the track that will drive the film’s plot. Among these missing children, one of the chief’s sons. And as luck would have it at the same time, the second son of the chief embodied by the Ivorian Stephane Zavaby arrives in the village to spend the holidays in the company of his wife (Lucie Memba) and his albino daughter, Liengu, played by Manon Mikon Edale. Days go by and still no trace of the missing so Mola Kingue under pressure from his constituents decides to summon Efasa Moto and sacrifice his albino little girl to find the lost children and preserve his power. The story, well conducted for 2/3 of the film despite its delays, offers us contrasting characters who face complex choices. These are not inherently evil or inherently good characters, but human characters who, like everyone else, face their good side and their bad side. A quality of character construction that is often rare in local productions. And Mola Kingue, incarnated in a fair way by Cosson Chinepoh, manages to embark us in the dilemma which gnaws at him, to preserve the balance of his family but also of his village. He decides with the help of the young people in his pay to kidnap his little daughter Liengu and take her to the mountain for the sacrificial ritual. Then begins a running game between the Mola kingué who must convince his advisers of the relevance of this sacrifice and Liengu’s parents who do not intend to let their child be sacrificed. A chase on the mountains which is unfortunately not highlighted in the making of the film. The last third of the film goes all over the place and ends up disappointing. The urge to solve all problems and bring it to an end causes even more problems and misunderstanding.

If the scenario of the film written by Lucie Memba, Anurin Nwunembom and Ervy Patoudem crumbles at the end, the fact remains that the story captivates us up to a certain level first by the choice of the subject and then by an astonishing mixture of languages. The actors speak sometimes in English, sometimes in French, sometimes in Pidgin or in Bakweri. Multilingualism for a film in a country plagued by many crises due in part to linguistic and cultural differences. A small attempt to live together which finds all its charm when the voices of the characters are not dubbed. The acting which could have made us forget the shortcomings and the slowness of the scenario weighs down the project even more because, the film really suffers from a lack of direction of actor and the few actors who manage to give us some just emotions are those embodying the supporting roles. Special mention to Douala Douala, Bernard Ngwa and Charlotte Ntamack. Little Manon Mikon Edale who plays Liengu manages to bring out some emotions a few times. Lucie Memba and Stephane Zabavy do not manage to convince us at all despite all the energy involved!

Rostand Wandja