Our take
Remarkably for a movie about women being shunned and exploited by those more powerful than them, I Am Not A Witch is often wryly funny. That’s because this satire about Zambia’s labor camps for “witches” is told with a matter-of-fact-ness that brings out both the heartbreak and absurdity of the film’s events. The bitter gravity of the predicament nine-year-old Shula (Maggie Mulubwa) finds herself in — she’s been accused of witchcraft on the back of some very flimsy evidence — is never glossed over, but neither is its farcicality. Appropriately for its subject, there are also touches of magical realism here, notes that elevate the film into something even more complex than a wry commentary on this morbidly fascinating form of misogyny. This hybrid tonal approach is executed with the kind of fluidity filmmakers might hope to one day master late on in their career — which makes the fact that this is director Rungano Nyoni’s debut all the more extraordinary.
What it won
Cannes
1 nom
BAFTA
1 win
Spirit Awards
1 nom
Sundance
1 nom
The story
Convicted of witchcraft, 8-year-old Shula is brought to live in a penal colony where witches do hard labour in service of the government.
Elsewhere
"Nyoni's frank, confrontational style is both derisive and empathetic; she extracts powerful symbolic images from the oppressive environment."
— Richard Brody
A nine-year-old girl turns up alone in a Zambian village and is immediately accused of witchcraft, condemning her to life as a tourist attraction.
Though she barely says a word, Mulubwa is phenomenally engaging as Shula, her reticence initially appearing as the natural timidity of a child before morphing into stony defiance and then taking on stranger qualities. It’s a performance that matches the seamless metamorphosis of the filmmaking, and is made all the more remarkable by the fact that it was non-professional actor Mulubwa’s first-ever role.
Henry B.J. Phiri’s performance as the corrupt government official Mr. Banda — who sings, “Get my gown, there’s a new witch in town” — is genuinely Oscar-worthy.
Who picked it
Farah Cheded is a UK-based curator at A Good Movie to Watch and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved freelance critic whose work has been published at outlets including The Playlist, Paste Magazine, and Film School Rejects. She lives in fear of the day she runs out of 'Columbo' episodes to watch.
"Nyoni teases our assumptions of culpability. She paints portraits of implied mysticism with elegance and precision, slowing time and framing the girl as the center of the film's universe-not a witch, but a force to be reckoned with nevertheless."
— Kelley Dong