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RAFIKI
(2018, Kahiu)
A film from Kenya



"I wish we could go somewhere where we could be real."

Kenya is a highly conservative country, where LGBTQ+ people are subject to explicit or covert discrimination and restrictions. Homosexuality in general is considered taboo and unacceptable by a large majority of people. So what can gay people do? where to escape? That is the question that the main characters ask themselves in this romantic drama.

Rafiki follows Kena (Samantha Mugatsia), a young woman whose father runs a small convenience store, while also running for a political seat in a local election. When Kena befriends Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), tensions arise about their relationship. Not only that, but Ziki also happens to be the daughter of the rival of Kena's father.

This film was recommended by a great Internet friend and I thought it was a very pleasant surprise. Being a romantic drama, there's little need for directorial "flair", so to speak, so director Wanuri Kahiu relies on the solid performances from Mugatsia and Munyiva. Both actress have great chemistry and sell the relationship really well.

The film does a good job of showing the struggles of LGBTQ people in Kenya, but without losing the focus of this specific relationship. You can see how both girls are looked at, and they're both "mobbed" inside a church and *really* mobbed by a crowd outside, but the script always stays inside this box, and it works.

There are a couple of shaky performances, clunky dialogue here and there, and some of the subplots feel a bit half-baked, but overall, the film succeeds in presenting a relationship and a situation that feels real, even if some people in Kenya don't want it to be.

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