Rafiki (2018)

There are two kinds of films that feel longer than they actually were: the ones which are so badly shot that you feel like you've been stuck inside them forever, and the ones that manage to pack in layers and depth in such a short span of time that you feel like you just walked out of a long conversation with the most interesting person who was telling you all about that one phase in their life. Rafiki, thankfully, belongs to the latter category. It's tender, colourful, heartwarming and hopeful all at once, and it made me so engrossed in its little world that I immediately began seeing traces of mine in it too.

Wanuri Kahiu is the true star of the show here. She has done such an incredible job with this movie that it's hard not to want to hug her once it ends. All the choices she has made are perfect, and you really can't miss all her attention to detail. I loved the colouring of the movie, and honestly, it was a large part in why I was attracted to it from the start itself. Speaking of the start, the solid opening did wonders to rejuvenate me at the end of the long day, and made me feel excited for the treat that was ahead of me. 

Sheila Munyiva as Ziki was everything that I want to be. I loved her honesty, I loved the way she dressed and carried herself, I loved how she loved, it was all just so personal to me. Maybe not the most fine-tuned performance strictly on acting basis, but I cannot help but adore both actor and character because of how much I relate to what was happening in the story. It's the same with Samantha Mugatsia as Kena as well- she gave it her all, and that's what matters. For so many of us, for far too long, our stories have just never found a place. To see it all happening in spaces which are usually dominated by mainstream heterosexual stories (such spaces include my own watchlist, of course) is a delight- and when the story is as beautiful and uplifting as this one, you would have to be a different kind of evil to find things to hate on. Yes, maybe I am being too harsh and gate-keepy about this movie, but I simply do not care. I do not want to read or hear anything negative about such a wholesome but realistic story, and that's that.

My favourite part was how they handled the mob attack sequence. I appreciated how the focus was on the mob, rather than on Ziki and Kena. It's the mob acting as a single entity that deserves to be looked at, rather than the victims of such an attack. Also considering that most of the target audience for this would be members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially queer women, I cannot help but admire how sensitively the portrayal of the girls and their bodies was. The movie focused more on how the people around them physically reacted, rather than the girls themselves. The focus on the girls was through an empathetic lens- what they went through, the turmoil they experienced, it's all shown in a heartbreaking but very real and relatable manner. I also liked how they wrote John's (Jimmy Gathu) character: he was not the perfect father by any standards, and yet he came through for his daughter when she needed him the most. Like I said earlier, there's so much packed into this film, and literally everything is worth talking about, that I don't think I have even touched the surface of a thorough analysis. But well, that's not the purpose of these "reviews" anyway, so I'll just let it be, and instead, revel in the vibes that this movie blessed me with so early on in Pride Month.

In conclusion, non-whites make the superior gay movies, it has been established without doubt. We just need more people to platform them, amen.