The cast of
Nkinzi. PHOTO | ANDREW KAGGWA
For people that watch African films, do you often wonder if there exists African Christmas films?
Well, there are few African titles and over the years, filmmakers have been making films targeting the season, but one film, Nkinzi tried to check two boxes, make a children’s film and a season one.
Nkinzi is a children’s film about a girl, Nkinzi (portrayed by TikTok sensation Baby Passion) whose family is at the brink of breaking down because they cannot have a baby boy.
Of course this is a struggle that is fuelled by her grandmother who for some reason has issues with Nkinzi’s mother gradually accusing her for failing to give them an heir.
After the mother gets to both Nkinzi’s father Valentine (Lumumba Patrick) and mother Esther (Hasifah Nakitende), their family starts crumbling with both trying to understand why they can’t have a baby boy.
However, during their fight, their daughter Nkinzi overhears them and ends up believing their parents do not love her and does the unthinkable, runs away from home, ends up on the streets where she meets Junior (Simon Peter Walusimbi).
Junior lives on the streets with his young sister Princess (Lubowa Mayra Ariana). Together, the three navigate hardships on the streets of Kampala while at times running away from city predators, many of whom are trying to take advantage of them to those trying to abduct them.
Nkinzi is not the first Ugandan film featuring children but it may be the first one where the children are both the leads and support cast; they drive the narrative, control the flow and have the entire story locked onto them.
Yes, Uganda has had a number of films featuring children or about children but the people moving the story or bearing the emotional baggage are the adults acting alongside them, Nkinzi tries to make this story about the children.
The film has two major stories, one that happens to be Nkinzi, running away from home and immediately realising she made a wrong move and wanted to return in vain and the story of a man and his wife navigating their failure to get a boy child and are later confronted with the absence of their only child.
The main story is about Nkinzi, although it is about her getting to appreciate what she has and appreciating what it means being loved and cared for by good hearted strangers.
But it all ties together since Valentine has to as well accept the only daughter he has before he ends up losing her too, he has to stand up to his mother who was almost matchmaking for him with one of his female friends.
Basically Valentine has to get his house in order without his mother and friends interference which in the first place brought about the fight that led to their daughter running away in the first place.
A number of things work for Nkinzi but nothing stands out like the story; mainly focusing on Nkinzi as the subject, the writers manage to handle a narrative we are used to, an evil ground mother and quest for a boy child but give it a new perspective when they throw Nkinzi’s absence in the mix.
Then there’s the vulnerability of the children. Walusimbi is a first time actor who managed to channel more than one emotional trait in a short time, being the voice of reason among the three children and taking on that role gracefully, with a lot of believability.
Nkinzi has what it takes to make a cultural shift to encourage more producers to take a chance both with seasonal films as well as those made for children.
Yes, most of the events in Nkinzi happen during the festive season thus it all ends with a big Christmas celebration.