RED MISTAKE

Review: By Olurotimi Akanbi

If Theodros Teshome’s Red Mistake has anything on its side, it has time. In the recent trial and conviction of former Dergue members, only three weeks ago, Red Mistake acts as a reminder of that bloody period and the countless lives that were lost.

 

The film begins with a very detailed prologue on the historical-political background of the film, concerning the ruling Dergue Party and the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Part (EPRP). In fact, it may be one of the most extensive prologues in film history. This gives way to archival footage of Dergue members in a public rally. This footage is effective in connecting the historical reality with the fictional story that follows.

 

The film begins with a bang as director, Theodros, does not waste any time in depicting the violent atmosphere under the Dergue’s reign. Incidents, such as an EPRP supporter cutting the throats of Dergue soldiers as well as a powerful scene where a Dergue solider shoots and kills young men who are supporting EPRP, only to discover one boy is his own son, are rapidly shown.

 

Theodros creates the world by illustrating several incidents that demonstrate the violent, turbulent country. The film then takes us inside a Dergue meeting led by Dergue member Legesse (Fikadu T. Mariam). Legesse privately meets with his brother after the meeting and instructs him to keep watch and enforce the Dergue’s control in town.

 

We are then introduced to Tamiru (played by Theodros) as a young man with a wife and baby boy. His wife is worried over the continuous violence as they hear gunshots outside their home, but eventually rests her assurance in Tamiru. Tamiru’s brother is a fierce supporter of EPRP with lines such as, “My death will help my cause.”  It is while Tamiru is attempting to persuade his brother of the danger that exists that they are both arrested by the Dergue military.

 

The films then jumps seven years forward where we find Tamiru in Bonga raising his son, Bisrat, alone. Tamiru is extremely protective of Bisrat (who is played very well by the young actor) as he has acquired the name ‘Bisrat’s mom.’ When Bisrat injures his foot, his father rushes him to the town hospital as if Bisrat was dying, rushing pass other waiting patients. The woman, who is simply referred to as the Doctor, befriends Tamiru and their friendship heads toward romance until Tamiru relates to her the events that occurred in Jimma; these same events would return to threaten both Tamriu and the thing he loves most: his son.

 

The dark subject of the film does have humour. In fact, Theodros creates an almost stark contrast between the world of Jimma and Bonga. Jimma is a place where horrible things have happened. The true darkness of the film is felt while in Jimma. When the film moves to Bonga so does its mood. The story becomes lighter and Theodros is not afraid to employ comical moments and character such as Shimeles (Shewaferaw Desalegn) in an otherwise sombre story. Shimeles (the English spelling closely resembles the word shameless, which is an accurate description of him) is the town clown whose attraction to the Doctor brings several amusing scenes.

 

But the story as a whole is about Tamiru, his son and the backdrop of the Dergue regime. Typically films that attempt to deal with historical periods tend to treat history superficially or oversimplify the events. The Red Mistake, in ways, avoids this by showing sympathetic Dergue soldiers who do not simply follow commands, but do what they feel is right. We do not have a simple black and white, good versus evil story. And Theodros does not pull any punches or hold back in any way in depicting the brutality and violence of the Dergue’s power.

 

Yet the historical period in Ethiopia had a widespread affect on the entire country and the Red Mistake begins with this type of wide-scope, vast storytelling, but when the story moves to Bonga that scope is lost and the film focuses solely on Tamiru’s story. And the world created by Theodros in the opening moments does not carry through to the rest of the film.

 

While the Red Mistake does hold the attention of the viewers, the story does not sustain the power it began with, because the scope becomes limited to Tamiru and that multi-layered, epic narrative in the beginning becomes a simple, straight forward story. It is only because the historical reality had such vast effects, on the entire population, that a film depicting that period can only represent that reality by being as vast and wide in its own perspective.

Source: Fortune

YEWONDOCH GUDAY

The latest movie craze seems to be focusing on the romantic comedy, Yewondoch Guday. Directed by Henok Ayele and produced by Arkey Sera Productions, the movie has received large viewing audiences in all the cinemas that it has been playing at since its opening on February 17, 2007.

 

Starring Admassu Kebede as Aimro, and Rekik Teshome as Helina, the title characters in the film, the movie focuses on a young carpenter who has his heart broken by his long time girlfriend and decides that there are no women in town that are worth his love and respect.

 

At the beginning of the film, Aimro is sent a wedding invitation for the marriage of the girl that he has been seeing for some time. When he asks that they meet up for some sort of an explanation, she shows up with her latest fiancé, and explains to him that she is not marrying the new man because she does not love Aimro, but rather, he as a carpenter cannot give her the life that she had hoped for and wanted.

 

Her latest catch is an Ethiopian in the Diaspora who has apparently made a fortune for himself abroad and is determined to give her that life that many local girls covet so badly. This is the major underlying theme for the movie, young women who would go to whatever extremes to find men that are living abroad or men that have money.

 

Aimro, heartbroken and sick with envy is bedridden with his overwhelming emotions, when his co-workers, who are also his best friends, decide to form a group called Yewondowch Guday (literally men’s business) in order to avenge all the men that have been done wrong by women who chose rich successful men that they did not love. The group decides that women are just supposed to be used and abused because there really is nothing worthy about them.

 

With the group going strong, Aimro and his five friends played by Tewdros Seyoum as his namesake, Elizabeth (Mandela) Getachew as Ketcho (literally skinny), Mesfin Haileyesus as Mesfin, and Serihum Asmamaw as his namesake; standing by his side, Aimro gets up enough courage to go to the dreaded wedding.

 

The comedic elements in the movie are very well manifested in the wedding sequence, where all but Aimro were crashing and had to come up with clever and amusing ways to get into the invitation only event. The lengths that the young men and not so small woman would go to, to stand by their friend in that, his time of need, was past the point of endearing to almost being a tear-jerker. Had it not been a romantic comedy, this is probably one of the scenes in the movie that would have had the ladies in the cinema pulling out their tissues and subtly wiping their eyes.

 

It was at this wedding that Aimro met and caught an interest in Helina, the main female character in the plot. Watching his girlfriend getting married coupled all the pain that he was feeling at the time, and his latest membership in his new group caused him to lie to Helina, claiming that he was from the US and had come to Addis to do research on different kinds of wood in the country. This is another one of the comedic twists in the movie.

 

Helina’s best friend, confidant and advisor, Martha, played by Shewit Kebede, is eager for her friend to get involved with Aimro thinking that he is well off and would be able to take care of her. Martha’s character development and the calibre of the acting by Shewit are spectacular. The manner in which the she manifests the gold digging personality is so believable that you just want to jump into the screen and choke her.

 

As hard as she pushes for the relationship, it was Martha that accidentally found out about the real Amiro and what his intentions were. Up to that point, he had been taking Helina to nice places, by borrowing from the group, or winning the monthly pot locally known as an Ekub.

 

Once his secret has been found out, the two female friends decide that it is best if they were to play the same cruel game on Amiro that he played on them. So, Helina begins to act like the spoiled brat, she destroys public property that he is forced to pay for, but throughout all her actions, she gives him opportunity after opportunity to reveal to her the truth that he is hiding. He of course never takes those outs.

 

The affection that grows between the two is more than obvious, but both are constrained by the secrets that they are forced to keep. When the situation finally comes to a head, with the very forceful influence of Martha, of course, they are separated and Helina, feeling the victim, refuses any sort of contact with Aimro.

 

But as is the case with most romantic comedies, there is the happy ending that you hope for as you sit and watch the movie. Aimro finally gets the opportunity to explain the reasons why he was acting the way that he was, and managed to convince a very passionate Helina that she just could not live without him. The rest is for your viewing pleasure.

 

The script is very well written, using common and natural language and making the characters extremely believable. The conversations are fast, funny and honest, with the cast playing their individual roles well. For a moviegoer that is familiar with the average blue collared Ethiopian crowd, there is authenticity in the manner of speaking and the phrases that are used. The conversations are not forces, and the cast seemed to have what appeared to be a natural chemistry on screen.

 

Although there are many positive attributes to this film, the lighting and the sound were wanting in some respects. Many of the scenes are set in the wood workshop where the infamous six work, and they wear coveralls that are the same shade as the wood and the background. The glare of the lighting is clearly seen in these scenes, only lessened by the conversations that take place.

 

The issue of sound is also one that needs to be mentioned here, during the viewings done by Fortune, there were some instances when entire sentences of the film could not be heard because of the poor nature of sound recording. There were some sounds that were muffled and blurred for what appeared to be the same reasons.

 

Overall the humour in the film makes it worthy of a repeat, which may be something that you would have to do soon because the movie is going to be in theatres until the upcoming Ethiopian Millennium.

Source: Fortune