Zambian Welsh writer-director Rungano Nyoni returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with her second feature, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024)
. The gripping drama examines past trauma and abuse through a culturally rich and empathetic lens. Does trauma ever really go away when everything and everyone around you constantly stirs up old memories of it? Nyoni’s vivid perspective and voice provide a resoundingly confident answer to this question, with the cast bringing the striking emotion inherent to his message. It’s not just stellar filmmaking, it’s essential viewing for those of us struggling to break the cycle of abuse.
Susan Chardy stars as the always composed and reserved Shula, a young woman who recently returned to Zambia. One evening, on the way home from a friend’s party, she finds a dead body on the road. While examining the body, and apparently not upset by it, Shula realizes that it is her uncle Fred (Roy Chisha). News travels fast among her family members, and they plan an elaborate, multi-day funeral for Fred. As the days progress, filled with tradition and memory, the complications of Fred’s past life slowly creep into the present. The result is a collective awakening, and burial, of his sin.
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Becoming a guinea fowl comes with frustration and empathy
In Nyoni’s haunting and emotionally gripping double feature, one family comes to terms with the past transgressions of their deceased loved one through acceptance and avoidance. With the memory of trauma lingering around Fred’s funeral, Nyoni takes the opportunity to ask us, “What does justice really do when the perpetrator is dead?” There is no simple answer for the victims in On becoming a guinea fowl – If there is even one. Instead, it is a journey to accept the truth and take the steps to prevent an ongoing cycle of abuse and trauma.
With razor-sharp exposition of the competing conflicts of tradition and morality, Nyoni layers the complications on thick with precision.
Nyoni’s powerful narrative comes with a simmering frustration due to the circumstances of the characters, in order for Shula to return home, she must once again adapt to the cultural norms of her family in Zambia. This means praising the dead as “Cheerful and cheerful,” even if they don’t deserve those descriptors, or serve the people who only see women as baby-makers and servants. Even Shula’s inability to cry for her Uncle Fred is met with contempt. In a room full of weeping aunts, Shula sits, frozen in time, trembling in front of her surroundings because of the untold harm she suffered from Fred.
Tradition is at the forefront of the film. But what happens when the tradition itself is abused? With the majority of the story focused on women as victims – Shula and her two cousins, Nssa (Elizabeth Chisela) and Bupe – Nyoni’s second feature is an incredibly disturbing and difficult watch, especially when we never see them get any justice or understanding. Frustration is putting it lightly when I say that this is how the film will make you feel. But mostly everything about this delicate story emphasizes the importance of not remaining silent.
Becoming a guinea fowl leaves a lasting impression
This is thanks to a stunning lead performance
Stories of assault in the film are often encouraged to be kept a secret. Thankfully, through effective storytelling, Nyoni teaches us about the importance of usurping the power of her feature title. Guinea fowls, endemic to the continent of Africa, are famous for their cackling alarm when they sense a threat. It is our duty as women to take responsibility and share our stories far and wide to protect those who come after us. With the razor-sharp exposition of the competing conflicts of tradition and morality, Nyoni layers the complications on thick with precision.
With exceptional acting and an emotionally gripping script, On becoming a guinea fowl is essential viewing. While becoming increasingly frustrating over time (due to her characters not getting the understanding and justice they need and deserve), Nyoni carves out for us a complex story of tradition, culture and morality. In her feature acting debut, Suzanne Chardy stuns with a powerful performance that demands empathy. Thanks to an exceptional final sequence, On becoming a guinea fowl Will leave a lasting impression, with a hungry desire for what Nyoni has up her sleeve next.
On becoming a guinea fowl Had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and screened at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The film is 95 minutes long and has not yet been rated.
On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula finds the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.