Crazy World (2014)

Director: Nabwana I.G.G.

Screenplay: Nabwana I.G.G.

Cast: Isaac Newton Kizito as Kido; Kirabo Beatrice as Diana; Nattembo Racheal Monica as Liz; Kayibaare Fausitah as Annet; Lubega Jojo as Frank; Kyazze Phillo as Cute; Mukiibi Alex as Mumpi Awunya Takka (Mr. Big); Kabuye John as Omusawo; Nakabiiri Tisha as Muky. Wo'Musawo; Kasigwa Diana as Maama Diana; Wephukulu Anthony as Taata Kido; Nabaggala Phionah as Maama Liz; Bisaso Dauda as Omulalu; Kagolo Francis as Rasta Frank

Spider-mando!

Note: This film was viewed as part of the virtual film festival We Are One, an admirable project between May 29th and June 7th 2020 where in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, major film festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival here for Crazy World came together to screen films for free internationally on YouTube. Hopefully these films will be easy to locate in the time afterwards. Hopefully this type of festival will also be more common.

Another film from Wakaliwood, home of the greatest action films ever, from a small community of Wakaliga, in Uganda's capital of Kampala, which has become a real life fairy tale, director/founder Nabwana I.G.G. having gotten to this point, with Crazy World premiering at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, from nothing. The transition to Crazy World is not as drastic as witnessing how you get from Who Killed Captain Alex (2010), their international smash hit, and Bad Black (2016), two films released on physical media as a double bill as part of the growing interest in Wakaliwood from the American Genre Film Archive. That transition was big, still having to build your prop guns from pipes and wood but progressing from a film that, despite its huge online popularity, only exists in a standard DVD transfer because Nabwana I.G.G. had to delete the original files to make another film on a computer.

Crazy World instead is their shift to the "best children's films", which is hilarious considering how violent this is as usual with its fake blood. With Wakaliwood however, this is not a concern as, in tone, these are films from an impoverished community who found a way to bring everyone together for a positive and ongoing activity, all clearly made with love and with playfulness to the productions. The distinction though, in this tale of the Tiger Mafia (returning from Captain Alex) kidnapping children, is this is the film meant to showcase their child stars, children in the community including I.G.G's. own son Isaac). Looking no older than ten between them, these child stars have learnt martial arts, and whilst they do not have the whole film, the martial arts kicks and level of athleticism they show in context is admirable. Threaded through as another plot line, for contrast, is a man whose son who has been kidnapped who meets a "crazy" man, who lives in a garbage pile and claims to have sat next to Saddam Hussein. That this man is a commando who also had his child kidnapped, and lost his wife who was killed during the kidnapping, it is likely he is sane, only biding his time to catch the perpetrators.

In general, Crazy World is a continuation of action films which are about spectacle, rather than necessarily any fully elaborate tales, but with the knowledge that I.G.G, with each film he makes, always intends that the movies improve, and that the community finds the work hilarious and reveal in this too. It is noticeable, but could easily be missed as I nearly did, that whilst this film has had its premiere in 2019, it is technically a 2014 film, which means that this film has been in gestation for a while and, in comparison to Bad Black which had a more elaborate narrative, feels not as complex in places. That is not necessarily an issue mind. Following a plot where, later on, it is revealed the children are needed for sacrifices, actual blood sacrifices, so to put wards on buildings for a construction company sp they do not fall down, Crazy World is absurd, as is the main villain being a literal Mr. Big, a diminutive man of stature who bosses taller man around with threats to slap them, and does pretend to be a child to escape the police. The film plays to its own sense of being exaggerated and, whilst it does have heroes shooting and beating up the villains, it thankfully does not have any problematic political message within itself.

Instead, however, contextually, even the film's playful nature is a reminder of how these Wakaliwood films originated from an environment of hardship, the paradox of the influence of American action films being a necessary escapism, but slithers of reality still being included. This has varied over the films I have seen and even the promotional video from very dark jokes, such as references to Ebola or open sewer drains, or that this film like Bad Black depict in their own way probably how miserable life could be for children in Uganda, even with a denouncement for the villain referencing that child kidnapping at least in this fabricated version of Uganda exists and is a danger. Even VJ Emmie in his voice over, for all his jokes, chimes in on the message of protecting kids within the context of the film, a message found even in this film's madness.

We should not ignore Emmie, arguably the breakout start of Who Killed Captain Alex as the "video joker" narrator, though he has stepped away from the meaner and darker jokes of that film, at the expense of characters or the references to cannibalism. He has softened instead into a lovable envoy to this world, a cultural detail from Ugandan of film viewing of video hall commentary, of having a narrator translate and improvise over a film, now a trademark for Wakaliwood films. He still references cultural figures when characters get involved in action scenes (usually action heroes, even Hulk Hogan), whilst I will admit delight that he has started slowing down his trademark catchphrase "Movie, movie, movie!" to tease viewers who have come to expect it from him.

Crazy World as a result is entirely playful, a group or personal viewing experience where the enjoyment of the viewing is as much part of the watch. Even when seen themselves without an audience, these films are a giddy experience due to how their DIY energy can intoxicate one with glee. Never making films that are too long, as this is only sixty nine minutes, this film's entire joyfulness as much comes from the experience of a Wakaliwood production as well as the ingenuity and fun onscreen that led to the final results, something which is felt just in terms of the wider fan base that has grown for this little community, be it the international fans to even being commissioned to do a music video for melodic death metal band Heaven Shall Burn.

Beyond this, the Wakaliwood films do raise a light on a more egalitarian view of cinema. Cinema, from the top down, was meant to be held by the most technically accomplished, the most bombastic, or if you view from film critics the most symbolically profound. Cinema has become more complex in how we are to view, when anyone can now make a film, and the goodwill and joy in seeing their work can overcome any technically limitations a viewer may have. I am sure Nabwana I.G.G.is aware he has to work with limitations, just to be able to make a film in his position, whilst he is striving with each production to improve and strengthen his talent roster and skills on each production. The result is that, alongside the entertainment from his work, people such as me also cheer him on because he has managed to pick up a camera and strived on regardless of any obstacles in his way.

The egalitarian attitude to his cinema, as I am part of, is admiration. Baring the guy who lands on a motorbike on the way down for a stunt, everyone is clearly game, everyone is having fun, and the kids in their high kicks above their heads and dexterity will make their parents proud. It is, morally, also contributed more to the world than some "important" films probably have, as it has led to a community being closer, people finding purpose to being part of Wakaliwood, and attention for the Ugandan film industry and the country itself from the world around them. It is, in it is way, a form of spectacle film and one I can get behind, as it is a local production in the truest sense. It also has developed enough international love that Crazy World can refer to the earlier films, referring to actors from before, or even plug a new production planned for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, a structural tangent that few films would be allowed to indulge in but this one can because it is of its personality.

Likewise, this is the case with the tangents about the "Pirate Hunters", which would be an indulgence that other films could not get away with but here, alongside piracy likely being an issue for these, is part of the fun as well. Beyond one serious moment, where a musician we never see again confront someone in the street selling pirate discs of his work, we have an entire sequence helped by fans around the world where these pirate hunters, punishing people by sending a gas masked wearing figure to get people who watch pirated movies. It is a fun segment, an abrupt and strange tangent involving fans from around the world contributing scenes from their homes, which even allows a director cameo as Nabwana I.G.G. himself is targeted for watching one of his own films.

Undeniably, for me, Crazy World was such an entertaining experience even in mind I had a bias of excitement to see this film. Even in context of when it was shown for We Are One, a virtual film festival set up during May-June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, you see the heart of how Nabwana I.G.G. was happy to show his film for a meaningful festival. He even has tributes to those who have passed at the start of the credits, and the film does wear its heart on its sleeve. For all the mad, sometimes A.D.D edited carnage you will witness, the aspect which has gained Wakaliwood its reputation, steadily growing, is that it is earnest and sweet.  This was seen even in the introduction shown beforehand, where at Wakaliwood itself they had lost a building part of their studio during severe floods, the only surviving wall which they guarded with their lives being their "Hall of Fame", signatures of everyone from around the world who has participated, starred in and/or died onscreen in one of their films.  That concisely, in this community's heart, its determination to keep going, and the kindness, is why many of us are watching their films still.

 

Abstract Spectrum: Delirious/Manic/Self-Referential

Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): None