美国国家公共电台 NPR Fantasy Collides With African Culture In Blitz The Ambassador's 'Burial Of Kojo'

 

KORVA COLEMAN, HOST:

And finally today, we have a conversation about a new film called "The Burial Of Kojo." The movie was directed by Samuel Bazawule, better known as Blitz the Ambassador. It's a visually stunning¹ tale that takes place entirely² in his native Ghana. Our own Michel Martin spoke³ with him about the film, and they began by discussing his decision to make a movie after working for years as a musician.

SAMUEL BAZAWULE: I had made music for six years. And I was slowly getting to the point where I realized that trying to communicate this Africanness that I know about through music wasn't doing it. And so I knew that I had to expand the palette. And, you know, I've been a visual artist since I was a kid. I've made music. And I felt cinema was the logical next step. It allows us to combine all these things that we know, visual and sonic. And it also puts people in the shoes of characters. So it makes sense as a medium to communicate this Africanness.

MICHEL MARTIN, BYLINE⁴: So tell us about the film. Tell us about the - and I want to dig into some of the themes in a minute. Without giving too much away, tell us a little bit about the story.

BAZAWULE: Yes. The film is about two brothers who have a jagged past. One brother goes missing. We kind of suspect the brother is responsible for it, but his daughter then has to go on this magical journey to find him when nobody else can.

MARTIN: I'm going to play a clip now. It's between father and daughter, Kojo and Esi. What is the language that it's in?

BAZAWULE: The scene is in Fante, yes, which is a dialect of Twi.

MARTIN: OK.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BURIAL OF KOJO")

CYNTHIA DANKWA: (As Esi, speaking Fante).

JOSEPH OTSIMAN: (As Kojo, speaking Fante).

DANKWA: (As Esi, speaking Fante).

MARTIN: It's such a lovely, gentle scene. First, translate.

BAZAWULE: Yes.

MARTIN: Tell us what's going on here.

BAZAWULE: What she says, you know, if you leave me, I will turn into the wind, disappear into thin air and find you. And the father responds, you don't have to turn into air go anywhere. I'll never leave you. And, I mean, that was one of those moments that I feel we haven't seen much of in cinema in general, father-daughter relationships, but definitely in African cinema, where it's tender, it's heartfelt. And also, the little girl has a knowing, which was very specific to this film as well, trying to entrust⁵ as much of the power of this film in this little black girl who had clarity over her years.

MARTIN: There's so much to dig into, and we don't have time to discuss all of it. But you're right, that scene is so lovely and gentle. And it almost brings tears to your eyes. And I was wondering why it was so important to you to have this relationship be so crucial to the film.

BAZAWULE: You know, making this film, I was very focused on nuclear relationships. I was focused on family drama, family dynamics⁶ - loss, betrayal, love - things that, again, aren't often seen in African cinema, if seen at all.

MARTIN: And it also does have issues. I mean, there is a big issue in the background, if I can put it that way, which is the mining industry and the effect that it has on people and place.

BAZAWULE: You can't tell a story currently about Africa without shedding some light on the environment, you know, and how that's become exploited, whether it's through the mining, lumbering⁷, wherever the natural resource grab is, you know. And it's also kind of seeing China make a play on the continent, and still some really strong European corporations still running things. So for me, it was very important that that was present. But I never once wanted to make a story that centered that.

MARTIN: I don't want the mechanics of the filmmaking to overwhelm the film itself...

BAZAWULE: Yes.

MARTIN: ...But I do want to point out it was very important to you that the film be staffed and cast with people from Ghana.

BAZAWULE: Absolutely.

MARTIN: And that was really important to you, and why is that?

BAZAWULE: It was. It was. And it was because story is all about autonomy. You know, who gets to control the story, who gets to tell the story? And I felt that many African films haven't had the kind of autonomy that they should have. So going into this film, autonomy was the first thing. If we're going to make a film, then we should be adding to the canon of filmmaking but specifically to the canon of African filmmaking. And that required us to kind of put our heads together with other Africans to say, what do you know? What do you remember? And those memories are kind of what are going to form the foundation of this film.

MARTIN: The people who've written about the film, the people who've seen it so far have all noted⁸ just how lovely it is. It's so beautifully shot. I mean, just every frame is like a painting. I just wanted to ask if the visual palette or the color framework was something that was very important to you.

BAZAWULE: It was very important. And Africa is so rich visually. Color wise, I mean, from fabrics⁹ in the marketplace to what the clay looks like, what the earth looks like. It's so vivid. And it's always struck me as odd when I watch movies from the continent that are often de-saturated and almost sepia-tone looking. And I'm always baffled because it's clear that whoever's coloring this has probably never been to the continent or definitely hasn't walked through the marketplace because when you do, you realize that color comes at you.

MARTIN: But you want a multinational¹⁰ audience. You want this film to live beyond Ghana - to be honest, to be fair, right?

BAZAWULE: Absolutely. Absolutely. And for me, the reason is - it's kind of why I've been making art from the beginning. It's that I don't think it's right that a continent with over 1.2 billion people have such little visual representation, specifically in cinema. If you ask the average person how many African films they've seen, it'll baffle you. The numbers are in the single digits¹¹. If you ask any African how many American films they've seen, that's their entire life.

And so if we understand that cinema is a means of building empathy, and for you to walk in shoes of people you've never met, and to understand their circumstance, then you understand how important it is that our films don't just play locally but they play globally because within that global discourse¹², that's how we form our ideas of each other. And if the films that are made from the continent aren't made by Africans, then the narrative¹³ is always one that doesn't really exemplify.

COLEMAN: That was Samuel Bazawule with Michel Martin. The "Burial Of Kojo" is out now on Netflix.

1 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 entrust   

v.信赖，信托，交托

参考例句：

• I couldn't entrust my children to strangers.我不能把孩子交给陌生人照看。
• They can be entrusted to solve major national problems.可以委托他们解决重大国家问题。

6 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

7 lumbering   

n.采伐林木

参考例句：

• Lumbering and, later, paper-making were carried out in smaller cities. 木材业和后来的造纸都由较小的城市经营。
• Lumbering is very important in some underdeveloped countries. 在一些不发达的国家，伐木业十分重要。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 fabrics   

织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。

10 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

11 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

13 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。