Fight Like a Girl

"Safi" (Ama Qamata) was snatched, brutally, from her happy childhood with her parents in rural Congo and put to work panning the river for some renegade mercenaries whose ultimate sanctions against any rebelliousness from their workforce was death or rape. By a stroke of sheer luck one afternoon, an opportunity presents itself for her to flee and after a very timely and kindly intervention, she finds herself in the city. Now homeless and penniless, she manages to convince a fisherman to let her take his catch to market for him but that won't get her from her makeshift home where the unwanted attentions of random men is very much the order of the day. It's her reaction to one such approach that attracts the attention of local boxing trainer "Kibomango" (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) who seeks to give her an opportunity to channel her pent-up fury in a more productive fashion that might even take her to the African Championships. What follows now is not untypical of so many films that showcase just how sport in general, and boxing in particular, has offered people their only route from poverty and oppression - but by showcasing through the eyes of a woman, we not only appreciate the strenuous efforts required to train and discipline herself, but make a much wider observation of the roles of her sex in an unforgiving Congolese society where opportunities were truly limited. It's not all hard graft for us watching as there is some light-heartedness from the dialogue and there is also quite an affecting romantic relationship between herself and coffin-maker "Cedrick" (Arthur Nkusi) which demonstrates some of her own insecurities and anxieties, and the dynamic between her and her fellow boxer "Aisha" (Bahali Ruth) keeps things competitively and inspirationally in perspective. Qamata skilfully imbues her characterisation with a sense of purpose and determination, but a sense of vulnerability is never far away either and coupled with some fairly authentic looking action from inside the...