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Directed by Vincent Mbindzou, ”Koto and Kengué, les Descendants” is a Gabonese film screened Sunday, October 15 at the French Institute of Yaoundé as part of the first day of screening of the 2023 Screens Noirs festival. A film full of good intentions but that leaves on its hunger.
The good intention of Koto et Kengué, les Descendants is to propose a film of genre wanting to be fantastic which explores the mysticism and the spiritual dimension in Gabon. Koto, played by Samson Elibigui and Kengué, played by Brenda Ntoka, are two heirs of great mystical powers of which they are unconscious. But in the spiritual world Nganga Mounônô (Mardoché Nguelé) the prophet of evil is aware of these powers and would like to recover them to have the opportunity to come to earth and reign terror. But without counting on Tsangavala (Edmond Joël Ntoutoume) the prophet of good sent by Dzembi Afubu the powerful God, who will use all tricks to make Koto and Kengué aware of the power in them and push them to work together because the two characters do not appreciate each other much. Thus summarized, the story has all the arguments to be a captivating film especially that the story draws on the mystical-social realities of Africa and Gabon. Unfortunately the film of Vincent Mbindzou is totally wrong in its artistic and technical dimension.
If we can appreciate in some measure the painting that Koto et Kengué, les Descendants makes of Gabon by evoking the phenomenon of repeated kidnappings in this central African country and linking it with the activities of the occult forces to source energy of persons abducted, the story is so disparate that you don’t really know where you’re going. The concept of deus ex machina makes sense here. The film is largely based on dialogues that are as crazy as each other. Mixed with that the Gabonese tone, we are served! The conversation in thought with the envoy of God in the sacred forest where we find dinosaurs (absolutely implausible) is anthological. The acting, so overworked ends up giving the film a burlesque and comic dimension that was certainly not the intention of the screenwriter who is both director, producer, editor and in charge of special effects, just that! Despite this, we still manage to attach ourselves to these characters who very often tell us what we already know and have already seen but who in their naivety or in their quests are all driven by sincere intentions.
The film, which lasts 1h39, and supported by TV5Monde, does not burden itself with many constraints on the choices of staging, frames, sets or costumes. But is full of special effects worthy of a real nanar. From the dreams of the main protagonists in which they begin to discover their powers through the conversation in the sacred forest with Tsangavala to the final fight between Koto and Kengué and Nganga Mounônô, You can see his special effects so badly executed that they make all the spectators in the room laugh. Even if the comic aspect wasn’t necessarily intentional, you end up laughing, sincere or mocking, but you laugh. And we are even carried away by the awkward love story that arises between Koto and Kengué.
The film is an attempt to explore the mysteries of mystical life in Gabon, we learn that Libreville is a spiritual door because of its position on the equator. It is also an essay of social painting of Gabon with the background of the main story, the issues of unemployment, promotions, kidnappings and friendship. We would have liked the film to be more successful but Koto et Kengué, les Descendants has the merit of proposing something different. This is perhaps what prompted the festival’s programming to select it and put it in competition Central Africa. See you at the closing of the festival to find out if Koto and Kengué’s powers will be enough to defeat the other films in competition.
Rostand WANDJA
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