Africa United, first feature film by Debs Gardner-Paterson is heartwarmingly hilarious, humorously thought-provoking, fantastically realistic and unassumingly hopeful. It is a story about a group of young children in Rwanda undertaking a cross-country trip to make it to the inauguration of the South Africa 2010 World Cup football.
The
movie starts with Dudu who is a young football enthusiast and lives in the slum
with this younger sister, Beatrice. He is friends with a young, talented and aspiring footballer Fabrice, who gets selected for the trials to be a part of the Africa
United Team for the World Cup inauguration ceremony. His mother, however, is
not keen on his inclinations towards football. So, without telling her, Fabrice
along with Dudu and his sister head towards the venue. But they end up in a different
country and miss the trial. Their only hope now is to get to South Africa for the
inauguration. What follows is a long journey through different countries which
reveals them to different situations, some of which get out of control. They
meet George and Celeste under such circumstances during the cross-country
adventure.
Dudu
is confident, creative, resourceful and unflinchingly optimistic. It is he
acting as Fabrice’s self-appointed manager who leads the team on their journey, sometimes with
disastrous results. Fabrice is talented but lacks confidence. Beatrice is kind,
generous and hopes to become a doctor someday. George is learning to cope with
his traumatic past, with much help from the group. Celeste is self-assured and
hopeful despite her circumstances. Together they are a formidable group, taking on a
mammoth task.
The
story is interspersed with a tale narrated by Dudu to the others, in the form
of animation and mirrors their own story but presented as a fantastical tale, a
testimony to Dudu’s fertile imagination. The young actors breathe live into
their roles bringing believability and an endearing quality to their
performances.
The adeptly
written original screenplay by Rhidian Brook takes you through an interesting
journey of Africa. From poverty to AIDS, from young war soldiers and
terrorism to child bride and prostitution – serious topics are touched upon in
an intelligent and entertaining manner, almost as matter-of-fact as we would in
real life.
With
the Brazil World Cup 2014 round the corner, if you are on a lookout for anything
and everything football and are leaning towards the world of movies to add some
fuel to that excitement, be sure to watch Africa United.
