Audience Member
I will admit, my mood at the time of viewing may bias my review of this movie somewhat, but it just didn't do anything for me. It relied too much on symbols/imagery the viewer must infer the meaning of within the film's context. But often those images seemed so random and not rooted to a clear event/concept/philosophy..., that the expected power was not there. The 'burial' event felt very out of nowhere as the degree of hate and or envy of Kwabena was not present, nor did it have the continued buildup to where the audience is not surprised that Kwabena's sudden extreme act. It was more apparent how Kojo had suffered on loss and guilt. 2.7 stars
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The Burial of Kojo Review
I decided to watch the African Film "The Burial of Kojo," directed by Blitz Bazawule, a film that would fall upon descriptions such as confusing, shocking, and lesson-giver. "The Burial of Kojo" is about the main character as read in the title, Kojo, his daughter Esi, and the mother, Ama. A film set in Ghana, the family is living in a village in a lake where nothing is surrounding, but water and they're village. The opening of the movie is an image of Kojo's dream, and the same dream he has had for precisely 7 years. They get a visit from Kojo's brother, and that is where everything starts to unravel, the climax begins, and the shocking parts meet you. A "myth," which seemed to be at that moment on, by this blind man that comes to the village, delivers a bird saying the crow is here to take it and they should take care of it, very obviously and coincidently it is given to Esi, the daughter. Unraveling and spoiling the movie, Kojo ends up moving to the big city, living with his mother, who seems to be not well, told by his brother, trying to make ends meet, he does some work pushed by his brother. This is where it gets messy and confusing: Kojo's brother, Kwabena, died about 7 years ago, killed by Kojo on the day of his wedding, including Kwabena's wife. And Kwabena came back because he had to make sure Kojo died. After all, he was supposed to die with them on the night of their wedding. He was the crow, and he had to take away the bird, being Kojo. The bird died, and so did Kojo.
Now, I could pretend like I got everything I saw, and the message of this story was so clear and accurate, but I honestly had so many mixed emotions I have no idea how to feel or what to know about it. At the same time, I believe that is what the author and director of this film's purpose were. They were mixing so many things up so one could make their reality out of it. Like, how it would reflect when portrayed with your life. And because of this, in the beginning, I did not enjoy it, but with time and each time any confusing thought unraveled, it made me think and focus more, which lead to me like the film.
I am utterly new to African Literature and Film, so watching this was very interesting to see the way they acted, how they talked, and dealt with problems. One keeps noticing while they read different cultural literature or a movie of a different culture or tradition, how it may connect or completely distance from what is your reality. This film reminded me of a past book we read called "The Thing Around Your Neck" by Adichie, in the chapter of "The Thing Around Your Neck" (page 115) where Akunna faced the problem with the question the waiter made about how the guy she was with had a girlfriend from another place. How it made me think of why she got upset by that could be an enormous number of reasons. But, it is made so that we, the readers, contribute alongside these storylines and understand from our perspective what Africans go through or at least the specific person they are writing about go through. This film connects to everything we have talked about when thinking of mistreatment, abuse of power, and problems that people unfairly have to go through either because of where they're born or their race. 'The Burial of Kojo" exploits the Chinese as an example of how they took over someplace that isn't theirs or how small opportunities one gets that leads them to do some dangerous and illegal things. Will you die and be moral, or will you do whatever it takes for your family's survival? The questioning is one of the beautiful messages the film gives us. Most importantly, it depicts the beauty of Ghanian culture and traditions, how they think, how they act, or even what they believe. It is beautiful how it shows they're perspective.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
First Atlantics and now The Burial of Kojo (at least in the order I watched those in). We may be, just now, observing an act of emergence of a new sub-genre in non-American cinema: namely, African paranormal slice-of-life-ish drama movie that blends those two themes (ordinary life and the paranormal) so closely and in such a nifty way that they seem inseparable. This movie does exactly that, and it results in highly interesting narrative that uses plot twists as valuable elements of the story that is being told rather than for a cheap thrill of it.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
Full Review
jona i
Really beautiful and poetic. Gorgeous symbolic storytelling.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
The Burial of Kojo is masterful. Best African film in a long while.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/15/23
Full Review
nefasto r
The film is a dreamy and atmospheric experience with a bunch of good scenes. Unfortunately the lack of experience of the director, far-from-perfect actors and a clear need of more founding, broke the dream it was supposed to be halfway there.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
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