Why we should all go see Dar Noir:
I really love movies, just this week I went to the screening of Dar Noir a Tanzanian Movie by Hamadi Mwapachu, and I was mind blown, this was Martin Scorsese level of filmmaking. If you have seen Taxi Driver and the Good fellas, go see Dar Noir and you’ll tell me.
I have great respect for Tanzanian filmmakers, we have a lively film industry, but as a lover of films I have many issues with Tanzanian Films, I will explain why I love Dar Noir and you can see what I mean when you compare it with other Tanzanian films;
Character Development.
I am not a professional in filmmaking or anything, but I know there is a great problem with character development in most Tanzanian films, but Dar Noir totally Nails it and here is why; The Main Character in the movie is so freshed out and his situation can easily be understood, he has a clear back story that makes total sense within the universe created by the movie, his relationship with other characters in the movie is relate able and entertaining.
The situations within which we find our main character becomes clearer and more understood as the movie progresses, we understand how he became a cop and how he became an addict, also we totally get how he ended up where we found him at the beginning of the story, although it is not shown how he met his prostitute friend we have no problem imagining how that might have happened, I know several Hollywood movies that couldn’t even do that as well as Dar Noir does, have you ever watched a poorly written movie where entire character back story is presented via exposition where characters who have known each other for years talk about things there were both present for, The Star Wars prequels are so guilt of this, looking at you Attack of the Clones.
Story Arc.
A story arc is what hooks us to the movie, especially a character arc (I think that’s what its called), I talk more of characters because Dar Noir is almost entirely a character driven story, Now a character arc is very important, when we follow our hero, we see things happen to him and a character arc follows how these things change our hero, a great example of a good character arc is shown in the movie Edge of Tomorrow, Tom cruise starts as a coward who doesn’t want to go fight the aliens, but as he lives the same day over and over he grows until he becomes a total bad ass hero at the end of the movie. Now this is done beautifully in Dar Noir as well, Events progress and they affect our hero gradually and we can see him transform and change, and all this happens organically without being forced; great writing.
Plot,
The plot of Dar Noir is really good, it stays with the main character and I think that was great about this movie, we see crime investigations go on but the movie uses that to do even more character development. We also get to see plot twists that will make M.night Shyamalan jealous.
Editing and Music.
No Tanzanian movie has been edited like this one, we see sequences, close ups and wide shots when apropriate, and the editing is done perfectly to stress on the mood and the universe created by the movie, when you see the freeze frames in this movie you’ll undestand why I compare the editing to that of the Good Fellas!!, and the amazing music is used perfectly to set the suspense and the pace of the movie.
And that is why I think Dar Noir is a great movie, however, that is not the reason I would like for you to go see this movie, I was talking to an actor just after the screening and he said something that I agree with, he pointed out that there are two types of films in the East African Market, there are the really good films like Dar Noir which however tend not to be profitable to the filmmakers, they cost more money and time to make and they may not appeal to the mass market although they go on to win awards, another example of such a movie is Network (This is directed by John Kalage and I also recommend you see it).
Then there are low quality films that cost less time and money to make so that even if they dont sell too many copies they make slightly enough money back for the filmmakers who go on to make more of them, this causes a vicious cycle of bad movies that flood the market. Eventually this discourages the making of great Movies like Dar Noir or Network.
Why pay for and See Dar Noir
Well it is entertaining, but go see it to support this amazing Tanzanian filmmaker, if great movies like these become profitable we will eventually get to see more and more of them, go see it and show that there is a market and demand for good films in Tanzania.
- Dar Noir will be available on Tango after the official release.
