Nairobi Half Life may not have got the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film of 2012 as many of its Kenyan fans had hoped, but Something Necessary, the third co-production by Ginger Ink Films and One Fine Day Film, which premiered on January 24 — at Century Cinemax at the Junction mall in Nairobi — just may.

Both films focus on the lives of ordinary Kenyans, but each set within a radically different social context. Both tell a poignant story about the pitfalls of struggling to survive in Kenya today without sugar-coating the complexities and the cruelties of coping under difficult conditions.

Both films incidentally, are co-productions of Kenyan and German filmmakers who have worked together to create portraits of Kenyans that are stunning, not only for their production quality but also for their sensitive yet unvarnished depictions of the people — their aspirations as well as their angst.

What makes Something Necessary so distinct from Nairobi Half Life is not just that the two are different genres and involve a whole new ensemble of Kenyan cast, crew and creative team, but that the former has a meaningful message that without being didactic, preachy or grim, is exquisitely timed to raise relevant issues related to the upcoming March 4 elections and the post-election violence of 2007-08 that nobody wants to see a repeat of.

Both Nairobi Half Life and Something Necessary explore whole swatches of the Kenyan social fabric by focusing on the struggles of individuals.

In Nairobi Half Life, it is Mwas (Joseph Wairimu), a rural youth who hopes to fulfil himself by coming to the city and becoming a big name actor; but once there, he gets lost among the wretched of the earth. Sucked into a lifestyle of crime, corruption and cruelty from which he barely escapes with his life, Mwas’s story amplifies the violence of Nairobi’s underbelly.

Something Necessary also explores the theme of violence, specifically the kind that was at the core of the post-election violence in 2007/08, when a segment of Kenyans seemed possessed with a poison that not only intoxicated; it incited the most ugly, vile and cruel instincts of men. It also threatened to destroy the social fabric of the country simply because some politicians didn’t get their way and wanted revenge as a consequence.

Violence is treated quite differently in Something Necessary. The film, scripted by Mungai Kiroga and JC Niala, examines the aftermath of post-election violence from the point of one woman, Anne, a widow (played by Susan Wanjiru) who’s lost practically everything she’s ever valued during those chaotic days and dark night.

Yet she chooses to continue the struggle to rebuild her life, revealing the sort of resilience, resourcefulness and resolve that I have come to associate with Kenyans.

Whether she succeeds is unclear by the film’s end, just as the outcome of the March 4 elections is uncertain. But Something Necessary is a far more hopeful film than Nairobi Half Life which paints a deeply pessimistic picture of Nairobi.

In contrast, Something Necessary reveals one woman’s triumph over the forces of darkness and death as well as one young man’s efforts to achieve redemption for his own heinous crimes against humanity, and more specifically against Anne’s family.

Hidden bond

There’s an intriguing dialectic that operates in Something Necessary which contrasts the widow Anne’s life struggle with that of Joseph’s (Walter Kipchumba Lagat), one of the Rift Valley gang members who burned down her house, murdered her husband, left her son and herself for dead, and probably raped her.

Joseph, like Anne could be a prototype of one segment of Kenyan post-election violence society where she’s the victim of the violence and he’s the perpetrator.

That’s because Joseph was among the countless unemployed Rift Valley youth who got paid by greedy politicians to inflict violence on their neighbours and create havoc in the land. But Joseph, unlike other members of that gang, has a conscience and a sense of guilt that nags him and binds him to Anne in ways not fully revealed in the film.

That enigmatic element of Something Necessary is part of the film’s great appeal. It seems to be quite in sync with the mood of Kenyan society today where so many uncertainties plague people, particularly related to the sustainability of peace during and after the March 4 General Election.

And so it is in the film, where we are left wondering: Will Anne retain her land? Will she be able to pay her bills? Will her connection with Walter come to light? And will her homestead, called “The Haven,” be subject to another gangster assault?

Joseph is even more of a walking enigma as we wonder how he got involved with gangsters in the first place. How many other bright young men from his community got caught up in the confusion?

Being jobless, frustrated and having no particular plan for getting out of their poverty and low self-esteem, they were easy prey for politicians who sought to create their own private militia that could be prepared to attack an “enemy” (in the form of another tribe) at the drop of a hat.

The film’s portrayal of the ethnic gangsters may cause some contentious debate about the accuracy of the depiction of events that were widely reported by the media and the unbiased nature of the producers as well as the script writers and directors. But there is no denying the fact that more than a thousand Kenyans died and hundreds of thousands were displaced.

What’s more, there are several other aspects of the film that are likely to disturb certain segments of the public, such as the way the issue of rape is handled in the film; also the way tribalism is treated — as an ever-present undercurrent — Anne, a Kikuyu, having been happily married to a Kalenjin, Steve, they and other “mixed” couples who dared to cross tribal lines for love became prime targets for the marauding gangs who saw Steve as a traitor to his tribe and Anne as an intruder, unwelcome in the Rift Valley.

But all of these potentially contentious elements only enhance the cinematic appeal of Something Necessary. They convey an honesty and authenticity about Kenyan culture that only adds to the film’s relevance, social realism and depth.

The inclusion of actual attitudes and beliefs that still permeate more traditional Kenyan communities was Mungai Kirugo’s original idea, part of the rough draft that emerged during the very first screenwriters’ workshop (held at the Goethe Institute in 2009) initiated by the German filmmaker Tom Tykwer (in league with Ginger and Guy Wilson of Ginger Ink Films and Sarika Hemi Lakhani of One Fine Day Film).

Tykwer’s idea was initially to emulate the social sensitivity of his partner, Maria Steinmann Tykwer, who taught arts and crafts to young women in Kenyan slums.

The German filmmaker’s plan was to start a project training young Kenyan filmmakers to make their own professional films and in the process advance a new African cinema. (His own cinema credits include films like Perfume, Run Lola Run, etc).

Expertise

The training project has evolved dramatically since the idea was first conceived and since Tykwer set foot on Kenyan soil and enlisted Ginger Ink to help him achieve his goal, of not simply training local filmmakers in the theory of film directing, producing, editing, etc; but teaching by doing the work of actually making films themselves, in collaboration with some of the best film technicians in the business.

So far, Tykwer has brought in German expertise and equipment to help advance a new African cinema in Kenya. But he has also involved Britons like Emily Man who ran the first scriptwriters workshop and Americans from Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Science who shared their expertise as well as their own film creations with workshop participants.

The success of Tykwer’s efforts is already reflected in the three films, Soul Boy, Nairobi Half Life and now, Something Necessary.

What’s beautiful about the last film especially is not just the script, a collaboration effort between Mungai, JC Niala and the whole Ginger Ink-One Fine Day Film crew. It’s also the cinematography and editing, which juxtapose the lives of Anne and Joseph, flashing back and forth between the two.

We never quite get what’s the exact connection between them, only the most obvious one — that he is culpable in the crimes of post-election crisis, particularly in the destruction of Anne’s family and home. 

With their annual workshops focusing on no less than seven aspects of professional filmmaking, one key element contributing to the cinematic success of all three films is the collaborative efforts between young gifted Kenyans and their professional counterparts.

Yet Tykwer hasn’t stopped making films of his own. Instead, he’s utilised his vast network of media contacts to strengthen collaborative efforts between Kenyans and filmmakers from around the world.

Power of social media

One other factor contributing to the success and dynamic evolution of the Ginger Ink-One Fine Day Film project is social media.

It’s not only used to send out workshop and audition calls, using Facebook, Twitter, people’s websites and blogs. It’s also used to deliberate collectively on a wide range of issues, including everything from scriptwriting to confirming specifications required for equipment coming in from abroad.

In fact, the role of Skype cannot be underestimated, said both Sarika and Ginger who claimed Skype is what’s enabled them to collaborate on a global level with tremendous efficiency and ease. It’s a major component that’s allowed these new Kenyan films to see the light of day.

In fact, the project Tykwer initiated was never aimed exclusively at Kenyans. “We want to support a new African cinema that’s pan- African,” said Ginger Wilson, whose company has historically helped make films all over Africa for many years.

While there were only two Africans from outside Kenya working on the production of Something Necessary, a Nigerian and a Tanzanian, in future the call will go out to filmmakers across the region to take part in training and forthcoming productions.

In the meantime, Ginger said the producers love the idea of Kenyans evolving their own aesthetic style and system of production. “It’s advancing even now as we are already working with a new crop of Kenyans on making our next feature film.”

But the immediate concern of everyone at One Fine Day Film and Ginger Ink were the local and global premieres of Something Necessary: the local one being January 24 at the Junction Cinema, with the first public screening the following day.

The world premiere will be at the Rotterdam Film Festival on January 28 in the Bright Future Section.

Whether the film will be well received abroad, time will tell. One only hopes that local audiences will receive this new Kenyan-made movie as well as they did Nairobi Half Life.

To my mind, Something Necessary is a film filled with emotional highs and lows, including elements of intrigue, passion and suspense as well as joy and transcendent hope.

It’s also a film with a poignant message, spelt out in the subtitle – Forgive. But never forget which is one more reason why everyone should go to see Something Necessary.