Freedom
House unequivocally designates Swaziland as politically “Not Free.” Similarly,
it ranks “Mostly Unfree” on the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic
Liberty. Not coincidentally, the nation also boasts the world’s highest rate of
AIDS contraction. Obviously, the leaders (mostly appointed by the last reigning
absolute monarch in Africa) do not care about the citizenry, but individuals
can still make a difference, like the hands-on proprietor/social
worker/surrogate family members of the Likhaya Lemphilo Lensha orphanage, whose
residents will tell a partly fantastically and partly heartbreakingly realistic
story in Aaron & Amanda Kopp’s Liyana, which screens during the 2018 New York International Children’s Film Festival.
The
orphanage clearly follows in the progressive tradition of Hull House. It provides
a safe haven for children, but it also offers cultural programming, such as
South African storyteller Gcina Mhlophe’s workshop, whose young participants
will tell the tale, with her prompting.
They
are mostly boys, but their protag will be a girl, Liyana. Like them, she dealt
with an abusive home life, before her despicable father succumbed to AIDS.
After the subsequent death of her long-suffering mother, Liyana and her younger
twin brothers are sent to live with their grandmother. Inevitably, the
tragedies continue when the twins are kidnapped by human traffickers. However, the
resilient Liyana sets out to rescue them, with only the family bull for company
and back-up.
Indeed,
trafficking and slavery is a very real threat to children throughout “developing”
nations—Swaziland happens to rank 17 out of 167 on the Global Slavery Index.
The Kopps and co-editor-producer Davis Coombe largely downplay the dangers that
entails (mostly likely forced labor, but sexual slavery is not impossible),
presumably anticipating a good deal of their audience would be young children.
However, there are some distressingly vivid descriptions of domestic abuse,
both within the story and from the storytellers.
In
many ways, Liyana follows the
template of the traditional quest fantasy. It also has a somewhat fantastical beast,
but the real monsters are allegedly human. Of course, Liyana’s bull is much
more expressive and cooperative than what you will typically find in a stock
show. In fact, he is so cinematic, he will make many young viewers wish his
scenes had been fully animated. Instead, the Kopps and artist Shofela Coker
take an approach not unlike motion comics, but presumably the intent is to
approximate the story-time experience of hearing the tale and then being shown
the next picture. It works well enough, but some of the more dramatic passages
would probably be better served with full animation (sure, that would cost
more, but Abigail Disney is on board as co-executive producer).
It
is nice to see these kids controlling their own story for a change. They
deserve a freer, more transparent democratic capitalistic system rather than
the corrupt authoritarian monarchy they now live under. The film is mostly
nonpolitical, but it definitely raises questions why things are as they are.
Recommended for families and NGOs, Liyana
screens again next Sunday (3/11) at the New York International Children’s
Film Festival and also screens Saturday (3/10) and the following Wednesday
(3/14) at the AFI’s New Africa Film Festival.
