
I An Not a Witch is a cauldron of superstition.
Could she really be a witch?? No. Witches don’t exist.
The New Zealand International Film Festival has begun! Over the next two weeks Auckland’s cinemas will be overrun with interesting, exotic, thought-provoking, off-the-beaten-path films.
I’ve got my schedule planned out, and first up is I Am Not a Witch, a film written and directed by Rungano Nyoni and set in a small Zambian community. She wrote the movie after living in a witch community for a month.
A woman is walking along a dusty road, carrying a bucket of water. Suddenly she trips and drops it. She turns around to see a girl (wearing a dirty #Bootycall shirt) watching her.
Immediately we’re at the local police station, where the incredulous and bored officer is listening to claims that the young girl is a witch. The woman who dropped the water claims that the water has been poisoned by the girl. Another man claims that she chopped his arm off with an axe (despite both arms being firmly attached).
Regardless of the truth, smooth-talking corrupt government official Mr Banda decides that she is, and takes her to a witch community. There the old witches are tied to long white ribbons to prevent them from flying away, and they mostly do field labour. Young Shula (as she’s named by the other “witches”), though, is singled out by Mr Banda. He takes her to a trial, where she uses her apparent powers to pick a thief out of a lineup. She seems to be just the witch he’s looking for, and Shula begins to embrace the witch lifestyle.
There’s something ironic (and also sadly true to real life) in how the “witches” are seen as so fearsome and possessing such great power, while also existing at the bottom society, completely subservient and practically slave labour. That’s where I Am Not a Witch finds its voice — as a satire, highlighting how damaging but also how silly these kinds of beliefs are, all at the same time. A witch doctor dancing around a headless chicken in a police station is presented just as it would be in real life: Uncomfortable and awkward. Like, David Brent strumming on a guitar awkward.

But this isn’t just a tale of superstition taken to its extreme. I Am Not a Witch is also about the people who take advantage of superstitions. Aside from Shula (who doesn’t really have much of a character per se — she barely says a word for the movie) the other main character is Mr Banda, the government official who sees opportunity in Shula. He carts her around the countryside, using Shula’s powers to “benefit” the community in return for offerings. Which usually include gin.
So are witches good? Bad? Powerful? Helpless? Helpful? They’re whatever ever the hell the people in control want them to be. To Banda they’re a means to an end, a resource to be exploited. To the tourists, they’re a photo op.
There are some parts that didn’t work for me. The turning point of Shula, when she changes from happy go-lucky witch to someone desperate to escape the life she’s been forced into, happens so fast that if it weren’t a digital projection I’d wonder if there were a whole reel missing.
It almost feels like the cast is improvising some scenes. Which works in some places, not in others. When non-improv actors improvise they often end up just repeating the same line over and over, which happens here.
But I Am a Witch is also mesmerising, gorgeously shot, and a is a striking debut feature film from Rungano Nyoni.

