Dedicated to Mother Africa and all witches camps, Suffering to Lose is a nostalgic trip down memory lane into the unpretentious, happy and uncomplicated past. However this episode goes a step further to assess flaws in our tradition, and throws light on the need to hold on to tradition but with a conscientious eye.
Starring Akofa Ajeani Asiedu, Ekow Bingo Baiden, Albert Jackson Davis, Ekow Smith Asante, Akosua Agyapong, Portia Asare Boateng, Agnes Dapaah and Emmary Brown, Suffering to Lose brings to its audience the picturesque Ghanaian family unit: a hardworking man, his dedicated, housekeeping wife, six intelligent and lively children. The vibes you got were people who live by the book and rules, everyone was always simply smiling. If the actors weren’t, you were because of how happy and pictorial the movie was. The character of Paa Joe introduces a new family unit and the story progresses to portray how loving families can help other families, in marital problems, and in financial problems (Kofi and Ampoma). Complete in sepia tint or black and white shades, there was adequate delivery of the image of the Afro, part-a-line-in-your-hair, kelewele-wrapped-in-leaves, renting-a-bicycle-to-visit-the-girl-you’re-crushing-on days. Everyone was just so good and helpful to each other, till the pictorial breaks and Ampoma plays the Ghanaian stereotype of blaming the widow for her husband’s death. Then the horror begins when goodness done in the past passes away into the extreme shortness of human memory.
The story was very slow and flat however; one straight line of inaction (attempted action did not break the monotony of the movie’s rhythm). The characters were quite one-dimensional and not complex, which made them hard to believe in because of the inevitable fact that humans are naturally and irrevocably complex. They delivered the expected reactions, the lines were cliché, the emotions were delivered in the everyday manner, and there was really no creative innovation where acting was concerned. Akofa’s portrayal of grief in the character of Sophia, however, upon the discovery of her husband’s death, was amazingly different and poignant. There was no stereotypic screaming and hands on the head reaction, it was a simply and powerfully quiet rendition of a grief-stricken and disoriented woman.
Back to the story however, one would fall asleep and wake up and would not have missed much because it dragged so much. Probably, one could argue that the slowness and uncomplicatedness is symbolic of the slow-moving, uncomplicated days of the past. As I said, it can be argued. It will probably sit much better as a documentary of “the good old days”. Things started to stir up, more like a solid conflict was revealed, when Paa Joe was killed in the car accident. Then we saw the villain, as well as the conflict that needed to be resolved in the blaming of his innocent wife, Sophia. From then, the questions that help the audience to follow a movie and stay interested, emerged: ‘what’s going to happen next?’, ‘will she be driven away from her own home?’, ‘how would this conflict be resolved?’ etc.
The plus side of the movie was the inclusion of pretty intense flashing images meant to strike the hearts of the audience at the pure inhumanity in the treatment of widows who were branded as witches. Included scenes which showed what would happen to Sophia were: throwing her out of the home she helped her dead husband build, her young children pushed out of the only home they’ve known all their lives, and finally, Sophia being shaved bald to mark her to all as a witch who killed her own husband. This was a marvelous inclusion that conveyed the main message in a resounding manner – the best way to get people informed and emotionally responsive to traditional atrocities.
Kwaw Ansah is a phenomenal film director, written into the history of Ghanaian legends. With timeless movies such as Love Brewed in an African Pot and Heritage Africa, he has established himself as the director who would use his abilities to enhance pan-Africanism and love for one’s origins. This message still rings in his latest series The Good Old Days, and for this reason first and foremost, we proffer the highest salute.
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