The Gooneries

The South African World Cup has come and gone. Now arriving a few months later like a postcard lost in the post, AFRICA UNITED has arrived to offer a children’s adventure movie with more than a splash of football. This is a review of it.

 

Release date: 22 October

Directed by: Debs Gardner-Paterson

Starring: Eriya Ndayambaje, Roger Nsengiyumva, Sanyu Joanita Kintu, Sherrie Silver and Yves Dusenge

Cert: 12a

Running Time: 88 mins

Watch the trailer here

Live action kids movies have left a lot to be desired in recent years. 3 High School Musicals, 2 Band Camps and a Hannah Montana have left the current generation thinking that life is all singing and dancing and blonde wigs.

 

AFRICA UNITED takes a different approach. The film opens with one of its main protagonists explaining how to make a football out of a condom (insert Miley Cyrus joke here). It’s clear from this scene that this won’t be your typical kids film.

 

The preamble to the meat of the story isn’t very encouraging. Fabrice, a gifted young soccerer is spotted showing off his skills and is invited to a trial for an exhibition match at the World Cup. Fab’s mother is less than impressed with this notion, as she wants her son to be a doctor. Her “stop dreaming, start studying” speech is so cliché that it evokes a sense of dread that this is going to be the same as every other childrens movie ever.

 

These fears are allayed however, when the story gets going. On the way to the trial, Fabrice is led onto the wrong bus by his manager, Dudu. The two lads, along with Dudu’s sister, thought they were heading for the capital of Rwanda but in fact end up in a refugee camp in the DR of Congo – without any papers. When a fellow resident informs them that there are men who will snatch them from the camp and force them to join the army, they adopt an in for a penny, in for a pound attitude and decide to head for South Africa. Needless to say they have lots of adventures along the way, and pick up a few stragglers as well.

 

What sets this movie apart from other kiddie flicks, is the fact that the dangers they face are very real. Fab, Dudu and their gang aren’t on the run from fictional baddies like a dragon or a wizzard. Nor are they running from statistically improbable villains like burglars or a government agency. These kids have to overcome real problems that the whole of their continent has to face on a daily basis. Child conscription to the military, HIV, sex trafficing, it’s all there, but handled in an unexplicit fashion and delivered at a level that children will understand. It’s a narrow walkway, but the makers negotiate it perfectly.

 

The dark aspects of the storyline are in sharp contrast to the brigt colours of the visuals. While the story depicts all that is ugly and undesireable about Africa, the camera shows all of the natural beauty and colour, as yet unspoilt by human hands.

 

The film uses mostly live action, but there are number of cut sequences featuring funky digital marionettes. These are the visualisation of a story Dudu is telling his sister, and act as a way to simplify the story and make it more accessible to younger kids, who might have all the war and prostitution go over their heads otherwise. The colour gets ramped up to eleven during these scenes and they provide a sugary respite from all the horribleness.

 

The thrust of the story comes from the journey from Congo to South Africa, but football is always present. The crew keep a football with them at all times and the script is littered with references to players, managers and teams that should snare the interest of young football fans. A reference to Thiery Henry is likely to draw a few boos during Irish screenings though.

 

The benefits of football (team spirit, never say die, it doesn’t matter where you come from, etc) are all present, but the ugly side of modern football also raises its ugly head. The consumerism that distracts from said benefits appears through corporate slogans scattered throughout the dialogue, with the lines “impossible is nothing” and “Kodak moment” being particularly grating.

 

Live action kids movies have been suffering for the last decade. Computer animated movies like Shrek and The Incredibles look to have snapped up the good writers, leaving kids with only lightweight Disney Club nonsense if they want to see real actors – Harry Potter doesn’t count because it is based on books. AFRICA UNITED however, returns to the late 80s/early 90s era of The Goonies, Problem Child and Uncle Buck, when children were given a view of the world that wasn’t necessarily middle class and secure. The kids in this film have more to worry about than choosing between the basketball team and the glee club, and that extra layer of hardship makes the smiles they provide all the more contagious.