From Vioja Mahakamani to Daktari March 2018 | Page 33

“This is yet another historic moment
for us as Africans as we celebrate
another milestone made by fellow
brothers and sisters as they represent
the continent in their global ventures
as actors and actresses’’ Said Trushna
Buddhdev-Patel – Managing Director,
Crimson Multimedia Ltd.
The movie which has been under
development for decades, is about
a young man T’Challa (Chadwick
Bosman) who after the death of
his father, returns home to the
African nation of Wakanda to take
his rightful place as King. When a
powerful enemy suddenly reappears,
T’Challa’s mantle as King -- and as
Black Panther -- gets tested when
he is drawn into a conflict that puts
the fate of Wakanda and the entire
world at risk. Faced with treachery
and danger, the young king must rally
his allies and release the full power of
Black Panther to defeat his enemies
and secure the safety of his people.
The axis point of Black Panther is
rooted in a fantastical nation of
Wakanda, an African Eden where
verdant-green landscapes meet
blue-sky science fiction. Flooded
with spaceships with undercarriages
resembling tribal masks soaring over
majestic waterfalls, Wakanda is a
beautiful land with a rich aura of African
culture, bringing us closer home.
The creation of the Black Panther
started in 1966 when Stan Lee (script)
and Jack Kirby (art) met. The original
Black Panther was a ‘hepcat’ in a
slinky suit with claws and ears and
debuted alongside the Fantastic
Four in an adventure in Wakanda,
which is powered by a mystery metal,
vibranium. This occurs after the
country is struck by a meteorite.
Over the decades, Black Panther has
evolved with various costumes under
the direction of filmmaker Reginald
Hudlin, and more recently, tapping
on Ta-Nehisi Coates. To complete the
equation Marvel approached Ryan
Coogler, the brain behind Creed.
Wakanda is walled by a phalanx of
women, among whom a battalion
of women warriors, Dora Milage.
T’Challa is enveloped by women who
cushion him in maternal, military,
sisterly and scientific support. A
female general (Danai Gurira) stands
by his side; his baby sister (a vivacious
Letitia Wright) provides gadgets and
withering asides à la Bond’s gadget
guy. Angela Bassett swans in as the
royal mother, while Lupita Nyong’o,
as a spy, makes the case for her own
spinoff.
The creators of the Black Panther
have a way of mixing things up,
veering here and there, taking us
from Wakanda to Busan, then to
South Korea, in what appears as a
‘cocktail’ of James Bond with a touch
of some Spidey monkeyshines. As if
that is not enough, the Black Panther
sneaks into a ritzy casino, where all
hell breaks loose- mayhem erupts,
legs and gowns twirl and the whole
place looks like a real havoc. CNN reported that ‘Black
superheroes have reached the screen
before but seeing the collective
weight of Marvel/Disney thrown
behind a blockbuster like “Black
Panther” still feels like a cultural
watershed, one that the movie
exuberantly embraces. Boasting
perhaps the strongest supporting
characters yet among Marvel titles,
director Ryan Coogler’s visually
dynamic film should transform a
lesser-known comic-book hero into a
household name.’
Wakanda is an interesting country.
Buoyed by its groovy women and
Afrofuturist flourishes, Wakanda
presents the strength of the movie.
It appears to have evaded the
historical traumas endured by much
of the rest of Africa, freeing it from
the ravages of both colonialism
and postcolonialism. The movie’s
politics and myth-building show how With over 10 years of acting in the
movie industry, Lupita has become
the Kenyan star who has made us
proud and was once rated the most
beautiful person on earth. Since a
young age, Lupita was passionate
about acting. Locally, she played lead
role in MTV award-winning drama
series, Shuga in 2008, after which she
went to Yale to advance her career.
The mix
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