School Days, the recently movie, has taken the country by storm, racking up about 700,000 views on YouTube in just seven days after its release.
It is already touted as the movie of the year in MBC’s Entertainer of the Year, following the fiasco of the 2023 awards when, probably due to lack of credible entries, a little-known movie which came out in 2010 was named movie of the year.
For all the plaudits School Days has received, however, it pales in comparison to Charles Shemu Joyah’s 2012 magnum opus, The Last Fishing Boat, which remains the Mount Everest which Malawian moviemakers must scale.
School Days is a daring, fast-paced movie that rekindles memories of school life; the bullies, the romances, the fights that would break out on the playground.
It is almost entirely in Chichewa with English subtitles (more on that later), which has contributed to its popularity. It has stunning cinematography with acting that is great without being spectacular.
It should have been a worthwhile addition to the burgeoning repertoire of great Malawian movies, but it has been let down by a weak plot, an abundance of major characters, subtitles it would have done without and an occasional jarring splicing of scenes that points at rushed, if not sloppy, editing.
One of the indications of a weak plot occurs when a story is resolved by a deus ex machina. Early in the movie, Ritchie tricks Leticia into giving him her bracelet, which, as the film develops, becomes the Chekhov’s gun that fires its shot late in the film to resolve a plot that was headed nowhere.
How did a bracelet that fitted so snuggly on Ritchie’s wrist get loose when he assaulted Mphatso as to become the centerpiece of a murder investigation and the resolution of the plot?
It is by no means the first time the bracelet has come off.
It does so during a school brawl between Ritchie and another character, which Phwedo breaks up. In this case one understands it might have come off during the scuffle. But there’s none when Ritchie assaults Mphatso. So, how could/did it come off?
Besides, Phwedo belongs to a clique whose word is the law at the school. After breaking up the aforementioned fight, Phwedo warns Ritchie never to wear the bracelet again (we are never told why). Still, Ritchie wears it in defiance despite his apparent fear of Phwedo and his fearsome ilk.
The significance of his daring to continue wearing it only becomes apparent when it becomes the only clue that aids the police in their murder investigation. But there should have been a better way of doing so.
The movie suffers from an excess of subplots and ‘major’ characters, some of whom add little to no value to the essence of the plot, which is already weak.
Bernard Chibwe, the history teacher, and, Aggie, his girlfriend, for instance, are needless distractions to the plot. Take them out and the essence of the story will be maintained. They are just adding confusion to an already convoluted plot that needed streamlining.
The film also suffers from limited character development, chiefly stemming from its large number of main characters hogging the limelight.
The movie has a deluge of one-dimensional characters who fail to develop throughout the movie. Phwedo, for instance, is just this epitome of evil that borders on the absurd, if not comical, from start to finish without any redeeming trait.
The headmaster, on the other hand, is a caricature of authority who makes you wonder how he got there in the first place.
If you like subtitles to go along with your movies, skip out on these, unless you are craving for a laugh. The grammar, translations and subtitles are a disaster, to put it mildly.
For instance, Ritchie, the supposed Casanova (who fails to hit off it with the girls) says ‘amene uja amakodza pogona’, which is transliterated as ‘he urinates on his bed’.
Anyone conversant with Chinglish will understand it; those who don’t won’t. ‘He wets his bed’ would have been apt. In the same breath, Ritchie says ‘amene uja amakomoka’. Translation: ‘he passes out’! Really? Then we have ‘These is a serious matters’.
These are just few of the numerous examples of language mishaps that could have been ironed out with more care.
In a few cases, care should also have been exercised when transitioning from one scene to another. Pena amaoneka ngati amagwiritsa chikwanje podula.
All in all, the director should have been smarter with his treatment of the script, but the movie is a good attempt. I would give it 2.5 out of 5.
