Just when you thought nothing good could ever come out of Gollywood- the Ghanaian film industry- as hijacked by amateur posers and trend hoppers, along comes Keteke (Train), the debut feature length by Peter Sedufia, chugging along with the intensity, awkwardness and clumsiness of the giant locomotive that borrows the film its title.
The timing is unspecified but judging from the lead actor’s male super afro wig and his love for funky highlife music generated from recorded cassette tapes played on an ancient record player, it is sometime in the seventies. Those good old days, when men were men, and women were dependent.
The opening sequence is quite preppy, instantly snatching attention with effective use of music, colors and pictures. This opening deftly coalesces into the film’s two principal characters, a young couple, Boi and Atwei, played charmingly by Adjetey Anang and Lydia Forson.
Atwei is heavily pregnant and the couple is making their way to her mother’s village, Akete. They hope to arrive just in time for the delivery but discover at the station that they have missed their train. Instead of standing around waiting for another one to arrive, they decide to make the long trek to the next train stop.
Clutching their heavy luggage and under the monstrous tropical heat, Atwei and Boi trade barbs and bicker at each other while Sedufia takes the opportunity to stage his own low rent, battle of the sexes.
Plot wise, Keteke is quite thin and on the surface, there is really nothing much in terms of action that is going on. But that doesn’t mean that Sedufia’s film is less than arresting; visually or cinematically. The chemistry between Anang and Forson is the oil that keeps the locomotive zooming along credibly.
The screenplay is engaging with moments where it is laugh out loud funny and there is even an added subversive element of magical realism infused as the couple make a detour into the lair of an elderly wizard who eats babies for breakfast. It may make little sense on first watch but when the entire movie is imagined as a parable of Africa, then it is easier to understand why this segment exists.
Keteke is open to various interpretations depending on how far one is willing to reach or stretch the limits of imagination. It works quite well on a primary level as a quirky comedy of manners and the performance of the central leads, especially by Lydia Forson helps gives the film plenty of its bite. But because cinema has to be seen to be representing something politically, Keteke can be read as the narration of Africa’s chronic post-colonial underdeveloped state.
The missed train could be stand-ins for how the continent has missed the mark at every turn, from the industrial age to the present domination of data and industrial technology. The constant bickering between Atwei and Boi could represent elements like tribalism and religion that stand in the way of true greatness.
Anang’s Boi may not be the 21st century, woke gentleman, but for all his weaknesses, he is willing to take the lead when push comes to shove to protect his family from harm. While this may be a redeeming quality, gender scholars will study the film’s masculine posturing as a demonstration of the continent’s obsession with sustaining patriarchal societies. Boi is always in the lead with Atwei following a few steps behind. But she is no shrinking Violet and is quite willing to give as good as she gets.
Filled with beautiful, stark nature shots, and layers of meaning Keteke is a fine outing for everyone involved and proof that Gollywood is a yet durable system.
Read other reviews by Wilfred Okiche
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