On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

"Shula" (Susan Chardy) is returning from a fancy dress party late one evening when she encounters a corpse on the road. A quick investigation reveals the body as that of her "Uncle Fred". She doesn't appear terribly upset at the news and neither does her partying father when she calls to tell him! Her evening doesn't get any better with the arrival of her drunken cousin "Nsansa" (Elizabeth Chisela) and when the police tell her they don't have enough vehicles to come and deal with it til the morning, she has to sleep in her car. What follows now sees us immersed in some of the rituals and traditions of a Zambian funeral, with grief - real and not so real - presented in a semi-comedic mix of ancient and modern behaviour. What also become clear is that "Shula" has a reason for her indifference and that this family, indeed their whole village, has unsavoury secrets to keep. What was curious for me, given the nature of the man's behaviour, was the extent to which the men were largely oblivious and the women almost entirely defensive of his true nature. Not of his behaviour in life, but of his reputation thereafter. He was clearly no great loss, yet his sisters grieve profoundly and lay the blame for his death squarely at his much younger wife who obviously hadn't looked after him properly. What's this to to with a guinea fowl, you might ask? Well it appears that they frequently serve as an early warning system for wildlife when predators approach, and so the allegory with the characterisation of "Shula" is clear to see as the story shines a light on established patterns of behaviour that still consider women as chattels. Aside from some engaging light-relief from the almost permanently sozzled "Nsansa", there isn't really enough development of the personas here and there's also not so much dialogue, per se. Just a great deal of plausible family chatter, angst and wailing amongst a community that treats death respectfully as the photography gets it's sleeves rolled up and takes us quite effectively into this bereft commune where there are spoils to be had, too. A lot of this is left to our own imagination and judgement, which is fine but a little lazy on the part of the writers who maybe hadn't quite the courage of their convictions when it came to delivering a more directly potent thrust, but it's still well worth a watch.

A pertinent fact about the little-known African bird known as the guinea fowl is that they have a unique, loud call that can be heard at quite a range, not only amongst their own kind, but also among all of the other animals within earshot. That can prove quite valuable both for the members of their own flock and for all other nearby vulnerable creatures when predators approach. While that may sound like useless trivia to some, it’s a highly relevant metaphorical observation about the underlying narrative in this third feature effort from Zambian writer-director Rungano Nyoni. While driving home from a dinner party late at night on a remote rural highway, Shula (Susan Chardy) comes upon the dead body of her Uncle Fred (Roy Chisha) splayed out on the road. Somewhat surprisingly, she seems largely unaffected by what most would see as a shocking discovery. She calmly reports the incident to authorities and returns home, where she finds her relatives have begun preparing the residence for a traditional funeral gathering. Shula remains remarkably composed through all this, too, despite the many disruptions going on around her, especially incessant overblown outpourings of grief. Her relatives are somewhat offended by Shula’s nonchalant behavior, upset that she doesn’t show more remorse about her uncle’s demise and isn’t particularly respectful of their arguably overwrought mourning rituals. But, as a modern professional woman, Shula is not one to readily give in to these outdated conventions and exaggerated displays of hysteria, regardless of how time-honored and widely accepted they might be. What’s more, as the story plays out, the reasoning behind Shula’s cool demeanor becomes even more apparent: She hadn’t spoken to Fred in years and wasn’t on good terms with him – and for good reason. And, as she soon comes to discover through revealing conversations with relatives like her cousins Nsansa (Elizabeth Chisela) and Bupe (Esther Singini), those reasons become even clearer, making it apparent that Fred was arguably someone unworthy of the outpouring of angst directed his way. To make matters worse, Shula also sees that her family is just as culpable for the shamefulness behind the concealment of the many dirty little (and not so little) secrets that surface, terrible truths that have been long buried under successive layers of denial and shifted blame. Indeed, if family is supposedly everything, these are relatives with whom I’d rather have no contact. As a consequence, this is the kind of film that could easily prompt viewers to become justifiably outraged while watching it, both for the damning revelations that emerge, as well as its disturbingly frank portrayal of the deplorable treatment women are sadly accorded in this culture. Interestingly enough, however, the film manages to present this unsettling story with a deft fusion of drama and dark comedy (which may not seem quite so funny when all is said and done), coupled with tinges of surrealism (some of which work, some of which don’t). Its greatest strength, though, lies in its message about the need for more of us to behave like the guinea fowl when circumstances warrant. To be sure, predators come in all forms, some of whom walk on four legs and others of whom only need two.