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It was with a standing ovation that the screening of the film Saving Mbango at the Palais des Sport in Yaoundé ended on November 02 during the 24th edition of the Ecrans Noirs festival. This romantic drama directed by Nkanya Nkwai was able to convince and move the public who came in large numbers for the occasion.
Saving Mbango is a captivating film. From the beginning to the end of the film, we are carried away by multiple emotions. Sometimes we laugh (sincerely), sometimes we are calm, sometimes we literally want to cry. With this film Nkanya Nkwai takes us into a history contemporary to Cameroonian society. A love story between John (played by Godisz Fungwa) and Mbango (played by Laura Onyama) who by happy coincidence meet and start an idyll. But also a dramatic story because John and Mbango each go through difficult personal situations. John has had to put his studies and dreams aside to take care of his lazy family who makes no effort but puts all kinds of things and constraints on him. Mbango, whose physique and history do not pass through the heads of the villagers, is considered as a witch but in reality, she is eaten away by a brain tumor. A set of difficulties which will put the love between Mbango and John to the test and which will make it even stronger, even more moving. The screenplay for this film written by Lino Lovet is simple but effective. We will certainly regret some lengths and some very cliché scenes when we go through the life of John and his family but each time we find ourselves with John and Mbango, the realism and the emotions are there and the story wins us over, we live their feelings. The film’s final twist is logical, ingenious, but painful. Even if we wouldn’t believe in a turnaround, we really want it, we hope for a miracle to turn things upside down and that John and Mbango continue to love each other until the end of time … Nkanya Nkwai demonstrates with this film shot 95% in Pidjin, that the romantic drama is certainly the genre where he feels the most at ease and where he manages to transport the viewer with the right emotions.
And these just emotions are all the more noticeable with the remarkable performance of the actors. Godisz and Laura deliver a real performance and manage to immerse us in the story. Each of them manages with small gestures, with the look, to give consistency and to build human characters and as close to people that we will meet in everyday life. During the press conference held the day after the screening, the two actors also revealed that they had taken several months after the filming of the film to completely leave these roles and to start a normal life again. Obviously in the film there are not only these two actors, Otia Vitalis as a father more in love with his bottle of beer than anything else, Libota Mcdonald, Adjibi Liviana and Stéphanie Tum the producer of the film who plays the very irritable sister-in-law of John. The director knew how to give each one a character and a singular identity which contribute to the effectiveness of the story.
1. L'équipe de Saving Mbango après la projection avec Bassek Ba Kobhio Délégué général du festival Ecrans Noirs
2. Saving Mbango team at the press conference of Ecrans Noirs
3. Nkanya Nkwai
The film was shot in 3 weeks in Mondoni, a small village in the southwest of Cameroon. A relatively short time for a feature film already because of financial limits but also because of the unstable security conditions in this region of Cameroon. This set of things may explain some of the technical limitations of the films such as this not very successful transtrav shot on Mbango when she is sitting in front of the road and she is already considering dying or these color grading faults. But that does not prevent appreciating the film. The director does not take much risk and opts for a certain classicism in his shots, he very rarely uses tracking shots and camera movements, but with close-ups, he lets the actors flood the frame with their acting and season the whole of a rather emotional music. The music betrays a little the western influences of the director who makes with this film a sort of Cameroonian Romeo and Juliet. Music with a touch of balafon, Sanza and other local instruments would certainly have accentuated the charm of the work. The color blue is very present in the costumes of the main actors and contrasts with the dominant green of the Mondoni landscape and further contributes to mark this isolation from the surrounding world that John and Mbango live. Film to see!
This film which has already won several awards at festivals is competing in 3 categories at the Ecrans Noirs 2020 festival can be watched at the moment on Amazon Prime Video.
Rostand Wandja
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