After Rungano Nyoni’s invigorating feature film debut (I Am Not A Witch) sent her star into orbit, all who watched the up-and-coming director were left wondering, what’s next? Well, at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, seven years after sharing her feature debut at the festival, she brings us another provocative film, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.
The movie begins with Shula driving down a dark road after attending a costume party. Then, unexpectedly, Shula spots something on the road: her Uncle Fred. She is eerily calm as she gathers herself to make a decision. Shula rings her father, and we quickly learn it was the wrong call. Her cousin comes across the scene, and she, too, is damn near giddy about the situation. Okay, it seems this uncle is not beloved. From then on, the film unfolds like a dark comedy, as Shula must participate in the funeral rituals despite keeping her family at arm’s length.
Tapping into the surreal, Nyoni has an impressive handle on the tone of her film, trucking along at a confident, steady stride, leading her audience through one hearty laugh after another until she takes a sharp turn as secrets and unspoken things come to light. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is an intelligent look at Bemba culture and how the traditions this family follows have led to such an emotionless response from Shula. As her aunts cry and fight about Uncle Fred, Shula remains steadfast in her apathy, but as she gets closer to two of her cousins, and the trio discusses family secrets, it becomes evident Nyoni is drawing her audience into a story that lays out how easy a family can alienate their own with little recourse. This movie is about grief, but not the kind one feels when someone dies.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is not for the faint of heart. It does delve into mature themes and is steadfast in showcasing how normalized specific bad actions can become in a highly traditional community. The values this Bemba family embraces are detrimental to their own. Yet, when the film wraps and the genesis of the film title comes full circle, you see how culture can be perceived as immovable as nature—fallible but inevitable.
Nyoni’s second feature is as provocative as her first, but her storytelling and craftsmanship maturity have grown exponentially in the last seven years. As the credits roll on On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, we are left asking, what’s next?
Muses of Media 
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