DIRECTOR: DAUDI ANGUKA
STARRING: LINAH SANDE, PATRICK OWINO, KIBIBI SALIM
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 57 MINUTES
A local company owned by a shrewd millionaire, Thabiti, offers young people the opportunity to find work abroad. Mvera, a self-centred woman who is on a mission to search for her lost mother, and also one of the applicants, soon discovers they are all trapped in an organ trafficking ring.
STARRING: LINAH SANDE, PATRICK OWINO, KIBIBI SALIM
RUNNING TIME: 1 HR 57 MINUTES
A local company owned by a shrewd millionaire, Thabiti, offers young people the opportunity to find work abroad. Mvera, a self-centred woman who is on a mission to search for her lost mother, and also one of the applicants, soon discovers they are all trapped in an organ trafficking ring.
FILM REVIEW:
(This review contains spoilers.)
“People value money more than their blood.”
Mvera is the International Feature submission for Kenya. Set in a small town close to Mombasa, Mvera has dreams about leaving her country behind to get a job so that she can support her grandmother and to end their poverty. Like her mother, who left for the USA fifteen years ago, Mvera hopes to follow in the same footsteps. Her grandmother insists that she stays behind to further her education at the University of Nairobi, to become a doctor, and to be patient in regards to getting a great job, but Mvera has already made up her mind.
Thabiti, a shrewd millionaire, sponsors twelve young men and women every year and takes them abroad to different countries around the world to gain valuable job experience. Mvera has applied for this opportunity. The chosen few head to Thabiti’s mansion and they soon discover that it’ll take a week before they fly overseas. This is due to the visa application. Once they settle down in Thabiti’s house, something feels a little off. They’re given medical examinations, they’re trapped in their room, their phones are taken away, and one by one they’re removed from their rooms in the middle of the night to never return back. Mvera is in for a shocking realization.
We live in a society where most people suffer for a few to thrive. Mvera is in search for a better life, for a better opportunity. Desperation and the every man for themself concept is what drives thousands of people to accept any proposition that looks somewhat appealing. And this despair is what Thabiti preys upon, pouncing on those who have nothing. Thabiti’s greed and excessive desire for more wealth has gone beyond normal levels to the extent of harm. His painful past has led to a destructive force that has led to personal and social harm.
This film is inspired by Mekatilili: the story of the freedom fighter of Kenya. She was an independence activist who led the Giriama people, the Mijikenda group, against the colonial administration of Kenya in the early 1900’s. Her motivation for resistance was led by economic and social-cultural concerns against the colonial authorities. Like Mekatilili, Mvera will become a source of inspiration by resisting those in power and those who have harmed so many people in her coastal town.
From a timid girl who is unsure of her future, to a role model for her generation, Mvera is just the right superhero needed where so many people need just a little bit of hope.
REVIEW: B-
(This review contains spoilers.)
“People value money more than their blood.”
Mvera is the International Feature submission for Kenya. Set in a small town close to Mombasa, Mvera has dreams about leaving her country behind to get a job so that she can support her grandmother and to end their poverty. Like her mother, who left for the USA fifteen years ago, Mvera hopes to follow in the same footsteps. Her grandmother insists that she stays behind to further her education at the University of Nairobi, to become a doctor, and to be patient in regards to getting a great job, but Mvera has already made up her mind.
Thabiti, a shrewd millionaire, sponsors twelve young men and women every year and takes them abroad to different countries around the world to gain valuable job experience. Mvera has applied for this opportunity. The chosen few head to Thabiti’s mansion and they soon discover that it’ll take a week before they fly overseas. This is due to the visa application. Once they settle down in Thabiti’s house, something feels a little off. They’re given medical examinations, they’re trapped in their room, their phones are taken away, and one by one they’re removed from their rooms in the middle of the night to never return back. Mvera is in for a shocking realization.
We live in a society where most people suffer for a few to thrive. Mvera is in search for a better life, for a better opportunity. Desperation and the every man for themself concept is what drives thousands of people to accept any proposition that looks somewhat appealing. And this despair is what Thabiti preys upon, pouncing on those who have nothing. Thabiti’s greed and excessive desire for more wealth has gone beyond normal levels to the extent of harm. His painful past has led to a destructive force that has led to personal and social harm.
This film is inspired by Mekatilili: the story of the freedom fighter of Kenya. She was an independence activist who led the Giriama people, the Mijikenda group, against the colonial administration of Kenya in the early 1900’s. Her motivation for resistance was led by economic and social-cultural concerns against the colonial authorities. Like Mekatilili, Mvera will become a source of inspiration by resisting those in power and those who have harmed so many people in her coastal town.
From a timid girl who is unsure of her future, to a role model for her generation, Mvera is just the right superhero needed where so many people need just a little bit of hope.
REVIEW: B-
