Mami Wata ★★★★ Fantasia International Film Festival 2023

C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi announces themselves as a filmmaker to watch with his visually striking Mami Wata. A film that shows us the importance of tradition and balance; it can be, at times, spellbinding. You will be hard-pressed to see a more distinctively gorgeous film this year.

Mama Efe (Rita Edochie), the unwavering village matriarch and intermediary to the deity Mami Wata, leads the community of Iyi. Her daughter Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) is due to be the next in power. She thinks her mother is too mired in tradition, and she vows to go beyond worshipping an unseen goddess to help the villagers. Prisca (Evelyne Ily), Zinwe’s sister, is annoyed with Zinwe’s ambitions but sees the merit in moving forward, and the villagers themselves are wary of Mama Efe’s archaic rule. When a mysterious man named Jasper (Emeka Amakeze) washes ashore, he’s the catalyst for change but at a dire cost to Iyi and its people.

Mami Wata is a film that could only ever be in black and white; the high contrast nature of the film works tremendously, with those whites illuminating the screen quite unlike much else you have seen. Couple this with the performances of our cast, each playing their roles extremely well. The production is, at times, staggering for what we get on the screen. At times you can scarcely believe the richness of it all.

So gorgeous looking is Mami Wata that it often reminds you of a Pedro Costa film; the film is lit to an inch of its life, with shadows often playing massively to the film. This is especially the case in the night scenes, where a character is lit and shot perfectly as we only see the white crashes from the waves move relentlessly towards us. The freeness of the camerawork at hand by Lílis Soares almost hypnotises you as you watch each strikingly gorgeous shot after another, to the point that you would be perfectly fine with the film’s events only happening at night. If there were any justice in the world, she would be nailed on for multiple cinematography nominations when awards season rings around.

From a technical standpoint, you simply cannot fault Mami Wata, and that, for the most part, continues with the script itself. Very much in the style of a fable, it can sometimes struggle with its pacing. While it doesn’t get to the point that it takes you out of the film, it does affect your overall enjoyment. It almost feels as if Obasi was so focused on the visuals and the performances of his cast that he allowed for the script to meander on a few too many occasions.

Obasi does throw the seeds of doubt into the world of his characters after the continually rising mumblings about why, unlike other villages, they are still living without modern medicine, hospitals and even electricity. So, when the violence does reach its masculine fuelled peak, its ending feels earned. But the multiple lulls throughout just halt the film’s flow and make you wonder if a few minutes could be cut from the overall film just to try and solve the slightest pacing issues.

With that said, when Mami Wata does focus on the tradition and importance of a united community, it shines brightly. When we, are a community, begin to split and react overtly negatively to the other; trouble is never too far behind. In this instance, he has selected modernity, which is medicine and electricity for the village of Iyi. For other communities, it can be something else, anything else. An overreliance on A.I., perhaps for the more Western civilisations. By leaning too heavily on that bright new thing, we lose not only our communities as we become more insular in our interests but also ourselves. It would be close to perfect if the film were just that tiny bit tighter.

What remains, though, is confidence, Obasi was confident enough to stick to that script, and he has such confidence in his visuals that even if his film takes a little while to tell its tale, it does so in such a distinctive manner that you can only sit and appreciate the art on show. For most (myself included), this will be one beautiful introduction to West African folklore.

★★★★

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Mami Wata is showing tonight at the Fantasia International Film Festival 2023, click here for more information about times of the showing.