On Criterion this week, I watched I Am Not a Witch, a 2017 U.K./Zambian drama written and directed by Rungano Nyoni, centering on a nine-year old Zambian orphan (Maggie Mulubwa), who wanders into a new town and is brought to the police station because she scared a woman and made her drop a bucket of water, thus leading to accusations that the girl is a witch. People crowd outside of the police station, with one man climbing in through the window to make an accusation, even when he gets called out on it being false. The police officer holding her doesn't really believe she is a witch, but has to appease the angry mob who see her as an outsider and a threat. So she is brought to a witch doctor to determine if she is a witch or not, and made to go into a shed to decide if she wants to be a witch or a goat, told that if she decides that she is a goat, she will be killed for meat. She gives in to their accusations, likely out of fear and shame, declaring that she is a witch, and is owned by the government, taken to a camp made up of elderly "witches," who are all bound to posts with long spools of white ribbons (to "prevent them from flying away," but really keeping them captured by their male guardians) and forced into field labor, working during a drought and praying for rain. One of the women names her Shula, which means "uprooted."
Shula is taken under the guidance of Mr. Banda (Henry B.J. Phiri), a government official who profits off of the women's labor and exploits Shula in police lineups to find thieves, making her point out who she thinks is the culprit, and going by on that. She is bound by the ribbon, with others carrying the spool as she travels by bus on government field trips. Mr. Banda is a talkative character who makes excuses for his exploitation of Shula, including when he brings her onto a talk show and avoids questions from a call-in listener about not enrolling Shula in school or making money off of her with eggs using her name. His wife, Chasity (Nancy Murilo), is revealed to have once been considered a witch, also having worn a ribbon like Shula, but claims that marriage made her "respectable," and telling Shula that if she follows directions and is always obedient, and that she finds a good man to marry her, that she will be "free," too, never mind that she is also being trapped by her husband as well, who seems very comfortable profiting off of women.
Shula doesn't speak a lot throughout the film, often being cowed into silence or being talked over by adults, and when tourists come to take pictures of the women, tied to ribbons with face paint on, one of the tourists finds Shula hiding and, in trying to cajole her to come out, suggests they take a photo together, still taking advantage of her even when she is clearly in despair. It's clear on Shula's face that she feels trapped, and despite the warmth of the elder women, her face often shows fear and loneliness, with fantastic acting from the young Mulubwa.
Despite that, I Am Not a Witch is a dark comedy, that shows the conflict between old traditions and modern-day life, like when Shula's trial is repeatedly interrupted by the "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" ringtone that someone didn't know how to mute, or when the elder women receive brightly colored wigs with misspellings on the labels like "Beyancey."
Film Obsessive's review goes into much more detail about the depiction of Zambia and globalization, and I will excerpt their part here:
On the other hand, despite all of his smarmy tone and bossy attitude, Banda isn’t a complete monster. Learning from his talk show debacle, he decides to send Shula to school. She seems very happy among her peers but doesn’t end up staying there for long. The local female tribal leader sees her education as a waste of money and scolds Banda for allowing it. She was visibly afraid that Shula would give her and Banda less revenue while staying out of the camp.
The presence of the female tribal doesn’t show only that higher-class women can be as selfish as their male counterparts. It also touches on the unusual political system of many African countries. In theory, the official recognition of the authorities sanctioned by tradition seems like a good step toward decentralization in post-colonial reality. Zambian chiefs sometimes advocate for progressive causes like the fight against child marriage or the promotion of sustainable agriculture. I Am Not a Witch show the negative side of this phenomenon: the possibility of corruption and cultivating old prejudices. Although news items depict Zambian state officials in a bad light, recent history shows that there are valid reasons for such.
However, it must be noted that Nyoni researched I Am Not a Witch mostly in Ghana, not Zambia. This is one of the reasons why we cannot take the film as a completely accurate picture of Zambian society. It is easy to check that threatening others with witchcraft or accusing people of such practices is a crime in that country since 1914. Certainly, the reality is more dire. Not so long ago, one of the local chiefs complained that courts demand proof of witchcraft from plaintiffs, and some individuals make good money from creating such proof.
I found this film really interesting to watch, combining folklore, sexism, and modern-day attitudes together in Zambia, with a young female protagonist who is observing everything and feeling powerless to stop it, being surrounded by immature adults controlling her life, and figuring out how to survive it.
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