Editor’s Note:This movie review is based on the author’s personal viewpoint which may differ from yours. It does not reflect the viewpoint of TheHotJem.com. You are advised to watch the movie in it’s entirety to draw your own conclusion about it.
SYNOPSIS
Villagers advise an abusive husband to channel his rage in the army. There, he must come to terms with violent urges that have deep and painful roots.
Produced in 2022 and now available on Netflix, Nganù is a bittersweet Cameroonian drama, directed by Kang Quintus and co-directed by Musing Derick Tenn. The movie is also produced by Kang Quintus under the umbrella of Kang Quintus Entertainment.
The film narrates the story of a local farmer called Nganù who lives in the village with his family, and is known for his disgustingly-violent personality, inherited from his unimpressive childhood trauma and experience. His family will have to suffer the consequences of man he became following his violent and abusive father’s influence on him.
The flashback of his childhood experience watching his father maltreat his mother as a child makes him see nothing good in his wife, or son, as he sexually and violently abuse her whenever he has the opportunity to do so. His wife and son become his punching bags, and there’s no positive influence of him as a father to his son.
His excruciatingly disastrous past affects not only his family but the villagers around him as well, who eventually advise him to make use of his brutality by joining the military. Nganù who has suffered several insults, and provocations from his friend Mbusi, decides to adhere to their advise to join the military. He leaves the village for the military camp and is successful enrolled therein.
Wherein, his demons continue to hunt him, and the tedious training sessions make him brcome even more violent, and aggressive towards his peers and trainers. He gets flagged severally by the institution, but somehow graduates. After spending these transformational months in the military, one thing leads to another and he overcomes his demons and return home, where he’s given a befitting welcome from the villagers but life can never be the same.
He returns home only to a son Kum, who has become a shadow his old self. His wife Mbeukeuna, is no more home as his gambling mate, Mbusi has taken her in and gotten her pregnant. Life doesn’t get any more frustrating. He’s now a changed man, but can’t change the past. His only son Kum, is now a feared thug, and a nightmare to the villagers. Nganù later reconciles with his son, after explaining to him how he became a monster. His son promised to make amends, but it is already too late as karma catches up with him, and he’s killed by village thugs who had an unfinished braul with him.
Kang Quintus doffs many hearts in Nganù, as he takes center stage not just as the protagonist, but as the Producer, and Director. He plays “Nganù”, and its fair to say that he’s an incredible actor, who soaks himslef in his role like his life depends on it. He brings to the movie , rare emotions, and balance that the movie needs to be a blockbuster it is. He’s accompanied in his family role by Azah Melvin (Mbeukeuna) who plays Nganù’ wife. She deserves massive credit for fitting in accurately in emotional scenes like she did. She clearly has more to offer to the movie industry if many Directors can trust her with more central roles.
Ayuk Gareth as Kum, plays a significant role in replicating Nganù. He’s a new name in the building, but undoubtedly gave it his all to the project. He is Nganù’s son in the building and newborn star in the movie industry. Now, words are few that can describe the prowess of Alenne Menget who plays Mbusi. He’s in the list of Cameroon’s most talented actors and his name is already into the record books for that reason. His role was effortlessly delivered.
Two singers, Locko and Salatiel, deliver telling soundtracks for the movie. Cameroonian social media influencer and comedian who recently started his music career, Cabrel Nanjip, played an important role that reminded viewers why they should never give up. He was the weakest of them all in the army camp, but his determination to reach the finish line reminds us about why we should see possibility even where we’re vulnerable. He brought in the much needed euphoria that viewers need to blend with the traumatic and emotional scenes in the movie.
CRITICISM AND SUGGESTIONS
Despite being Cameroon’s fourth movie on Netflix, it’s imperative to strike out the downsides of the movie.
Those behind the film’s editing clearly struggled to keep the storyline simple and direct, just like I’m struggling to keep it simple with this movie review. The repetition of most scenes should have been avoided. It’s obvious that the editors wanted to really get the viewers emotional, but too much of it rather becomes redundant and unimpressive. This is to say that the movie is too lengthy that doesn’t give room for us to anticipate a second part. The producer could have cut the screen time to put fans in a state of anticipation of what’s next. Instead, more time was spent in the military scenes which at some point, I felt they clearly deviated from the subject matter.
Added to the above, there was a lot of star power that, many characters almost served no purpose in the movie. However, for marketing and promotional reasons, the involvement of popular names that contributed little or nothing to the movie could be justified.
Hakeem Kae-Kazim, didn’t get too much involvement, and that has fans questioning his involvement in the movie. Fans wonder how much he must have been paid for his part, as it’s believed that the part could have easily be played by a local, but it’s clearly for marketing reasons.
Lastly, Kang Quintus might need to choose one or two things to stick to. I know it’s his movie company and investment, however, after watching him taking central stage as lead actor in The Fisherman’s Diary and Nganù, it will be good for him to fall back and stick to directing and production and leave the acting to actors who will better fit the roles he would have typically played in his movies.
CONCLUSION
Nganù is a story that many will relate to in our today’s world, whether we agree or not. Despite some of the repetitions, the movie is clearly advocating against domestic violence and abuse. Many abusers can’t continue after watching this story except they careless about the future.
TAKE HOME MESSAGE
“No matter how sorry we are for our actions, we can never take them back, and forgiveness doesn’t cancel punishment”.
