Directed and written by Rungano Nyoni
Produced by Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Tim Cole
Cinematography: David Gallego
Editor: Nathan Nugent
Music: Lucrecia Galt
Setting: Zambia
Producing countries: Zambia, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland
Languages: English, Bemba
Release date: 16 May 2024 (Cannes), 7 March 2025 (United States)
Running time: 1h 35m
HOW THIS WORKS
To find out where to rent or stream On Becoming A Guinea Fowl online, visit TV.Movie. Watch it on your own during the week and then join us for our Zoom conversation Saturday, July 19. A Zoom link will appear on the right of your screen once you RSVP. (NOTE: If you can’t get that link to work, copy and paste it into the search bar of your browser.) First-timers must sign up no later than Friday 7/18 in order to ensure being admitted.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
I suppose it's anachronistic by now for citizens of developed nations to experience much guilt over our colonialist past, save for the awesome disparities of wealth and privilege that haunt us still. I still cringe whenever I see an image of a foreign ambulance with EMERGENCY emblazoned in English on its side, even though I realize that the linguistic goulash of much of the non-Anglo world requires a lingua franca to be negotiated, and given the near ubiquity of English established over the course of the last two centuries, at this point our language is pretty much it.
We've left behind other flotsam to be reckoned with, however. When we first encounter Shula (Susan Chudy) in her Missy Elliott costume behind the wheel, we don't know what to make of her resolve and stoic air. When she comes across a corpse at a crossroads, her impassivity turns disturbing, especially when we learn that the body belongs to her Uncle Fred, a lost libertine soul and predator of women. It soon becomes clear why she should be so withholding. This crossroads stands not only for Uncle Fred's dissipation but for the crises a society finds itself still attempting to negotiate after decades of independence. When Shula undergoes her quiet transformation into a guinea fowl by the film's end then, we've witnessed the hard shell of her community's denial crack just a little, and our hearts break with hers – will this be enough to exact lasting change? Sounds in the bushes may tell us.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
TRAILER, RATINGS, EXTRAS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSBCqXrYKVg
Rotten Tomatoes: 92 tomatometer reviews of 100%
Metacritic: Score of 87 ("universal acclaim") based on 28 reviews, Must See
At the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Rungano Nyoni was awarded the prize for Best Director in the Un Certain Regard competition.
About the Bemba
The Bemba are the largest ethnic group in the Northern Province of Zambia occupying the district of Kasama and parts of Mpika, Chinsali, Luwingu, and Mporokoso districts. This area is part of the Tanganyika plateau, a dry tropical forest, 4 to 5,000 feet above sea level.
The Bemba recognize the following distinctive marks of societal membership: a common name, Babemba; a common language, Cibemba, which in their eyes forms a distinct dialect; special scarification, a vertical cut on each temple behind the eyes, almost one inch long; common historical traditions; and allegiance to a common paramount chief, the Citimukulu.
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
BLURBS & ATTITUDES
As Shula, Susan Chardy doesn’t give her story away. Years of keeping secrets are reflected in her stiff face, steady shoulders, and detached stare. She will not cry for someone who doesn’t deserve it. She attempts to talk with her parents about Uncle Fred’s crimes but finds her mother is too grief-stricken to reckon with the pain of others and her father is too checked out, choosing instead to enjoy his life and not worry about others’ needs. Much of On Becoming a Guinea Fowl centers on the experiences of the women in the family, swapping gossip, making decisions, or worse, ignoring what they know of the situation. They either perpetuate the violence or put a stop to it, and the movie emphasizes that it’s a choice every one of them must make for themselves. ∞ Monica Castillo, RogerEbert.com
Nyoni’s direction is brilliant, contrasting the chaos of Uncle Fred’s multi-day funeral with the stillness and solace Shula finds in her cousins’ company. The framing cuts characters in half and traps them in claustrophobic spaces, and the ominous, sometimes abrasive music lets us know that things are not fine, even when Shula’s family pretends that they are. The effect is escalating stress, building to searing catharsis. ∞ Katie Rife, The A.V. Club
Had On Becoming a Guinea Fowl been conceived purely as a drama of unearthed memories, unhealed trauma, and thwarted accountability, it would cut to the bone. But Nyoni goes further still ... The precious, anguished intimacies that Shula exchanges with her cousins are relentlessly pressurized by the social obligations and anxieties of the funeral; they’re choked off almost before they can begin to take meaningful root. Amid the busy work of grief, the young women have no real time to grieve for themselves. ∞ Justin Chang, The New Yorker
The writer-director never rushes this story, but still wastes no time in the film––each scene contains weight and value. Each moment builds on the memories of Shula and of the women in this family, fractured together, constantly reminded of monstrosities, somehow still taking steps forward. ∞ Michael Frank, Film Stage
Perhaps what’s most impressive about On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is Nyoni’s respect for subtext. Her film doesn’t aim to be a guide, a balm or an ode to forgiveness. The director rejects the ease of over-explanation and allure of an exclusively reverential tone. She reaches for honesty, and what she uncovers is at once disquieting and deeply absorbing. ∞ Lovia Gyarkye, Hollywood Reporter
As it unfolds, the funeral ceremony becomes a kind of movie within a movie, at times edging into near-documentary specificity. In the funeral’s rituals and formations — in how attendees gather and separate as they strike alliances, voice complaints and settle scores — it also elegantly expresses the familial, cultural and social intricacies of Shula’s world, both its attractions and its burdens. Inside the house, women crowd the kitchen preparing food, including for a smattering of men seated outside. When Shula asks what some would like to eat, she does so on her knees, echoing the supplicating mourners. As Nyoni does throughout, she doesn’t embellish this scene; she doesn’t need to. She says all she needs to with each lapidary image, with every resonant silence and with the undaunted power of Shula’s gaze. ∞ Manohla Dargis, New York Times
