This visually beautiful and charismatically acted film is a fierce expressionist reverie or parable of power, shot in a lustrous, high-contrast black-and-white by cinematographer Lílis Soares. It is the work of Nigerian director CJ “Fiery” Obasi, whose nickname makes an interesting elemental contrast to his movie’s watery theme. His storytelling urgency and stripped-down minimalism reminded me at various stages of George Orwell and Julie Dash.
We are in a west African village called Iyi, which has ignored the modern world of science and technology in favour of worshipping the traditional water spirit Mami Wata, through her intermediary and representative on Earth, faith-healer Mama Efe (Rita Edochie), to whom tributes of food and money must be paid. But Efe’s daughter Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) is furious with her when she appears unwilling or unable to cure a local child, and there are rumblings of dissatisfaction with her power. Mama Efe’s other daughter Prisca (Evelyne Ily Juhen) is less critical; she is adopted, and is grateful to Efe for saving her from penury and death.
As for Zinwe, her origins are also mysterious: she appears to have no father, having reportedly emerged from the sea itself, to which Obasi’s camera perpetually returns, looking out to the horizon. A fugitive rebel from a neighbouring village called Jasper (Emeka Amakeze) ingratiates himself with Efe and Prisca but has a darker side, willing to join with the rebellious forces who are discontented with Mama Efe’s matriarchal rule and credulous about those rabble-rousing types who claim that this taxation that she receives should actually go to them and make promises of modern schools and hospitals.
The drama is stylised and elaborate – but also often violent and bizarre – and the dialogue is in subtitled pidgin English. The sleek, stark images of this film are hypnotic; the faces are compelling and the hallucinatory finale is rather inspired. An arresting piece of work.
• Mami Wata is released on 17 November in UK cinemas.
