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In his latest film, Maangamizi – The Ancient One, independent Los Angeles filmmaker Ron Mulvihill and Tanzanian director Martin Mhando tackle the mysterious African spirit world, as well as the complex relationship between African Americans and Africans. Swahili for "destroyer," Maangamizi refers to a powerful ancestral spirit whose guidance binds two women from very different worlds together.
In the film, accomplished Tanzanian actress Amandina Lihamba plays Samehe, a patient at a mental institution who has not spoken for twenty years. When Dr. Asira, an African American physician played by American actress BarbaraO (Daughters of the Dust), comes to work at the hospital, she is inexplicably drawn to Samehe. The pair embark on a spiritual journey to recovery and redemption which takes them to the top of the dormant volcano, Mt. Meru, overlooking the spectacular Kilimanjaro plains and home of Samehe's ancestor, Maangamizi, "the grandmother of all grandmothers," played by Zanzibari actress Mwanajuma Ali Hassan.
Chemi Che-Mponda, a Tanzanian journalist now living in Boston, played Nurse Malika, a staff member at the mental hospital. Although she is not an actress, Che-Mponda said she was offered the part after telling Mhando how a previous film, Mama Tumaini, could have been improved. At the director's request, she acted out some of her suggestions and was offered the role on the spot.
"My mouth dropped and I was speechless," she said. "As soon as I regained my composure, I immediately said 'Yes'…All of us who took part in Maangamizi became emotionally involved in it. For that time we were a family. I have high hopes for Maangamizi, which is a groundbreaking movie for African filmmaking. I thank the Lord and my ancestors that I was able to play a role in it."
The film was shot in the Tanzanian town of Bagamoyo, a former slave port. In Swahili "bagamoyo" means "lay down your heart," referring to the fact that slaves would symbolically leave their hearts in Africa before being shipped away. "The locations have a lot to do with the symbolism in the film," Mulvihill said. "The story is about reclaiming your heart."
Although it is still being prepared for general theatrical release, Maangamizi was presented in video form at the Zanzibar Film Festival, where it was named the best feature film in 1998. The film has also been acclaimed by such prominent luminaries as Alice Walker. "[It's] more than a movie," wrote the celebrated African American writer on the film. "It is a look at how we've been torn at our roots; severed from nourishment at the source...Those of us who can remember and honor who we have been over eons of time, will be able to inspire the whole world to greater heights of compassion."
The film is primarily shot in Swahili, but does feature English dialogue between doctors and officials, which Mulvihill explained is faithful to the African reality, where European languages are often used in professional or business situations.
Mulvihill said the filming of Maangamizi contained a number of ironies. Having worked in Tanzania before, he presented the Tanzanian Film Company a number of scripts written by his wife, Queenae Taylor-Mulvihill. Although most of the scripts featured African or African American-oriented themes, the film company picked the only script with no apparent connection to Africa whatsoever: They chose a story based on the life of the Greek goddess Hekate, a role Taylor-Mulvihill had originally written for Betty Davis. The film company told Mulvihill that all he had to do to was make the goddess African and he would have a totally African story.
It has been six years since they started shooting, and Mulvihill has raised almost the entire $1 million to prepare Maangamizi for release. Prominent Hollywood director Jonathan Demme, whose work includes Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, and Beloved, has contributed considerably and is the film's executive producer.
Mulvihill said working in Tanzania was wonderful because in a country where local actors have few opportunities to work since economic conditions have created a shortage of film and equipment, he had access to the nation's top talent. "I walked into the studio and there was this whole talent there," he said. The cast and crew included Tanzanians, Americans, Kenyans, Australians and a Scottish actress.
It also helped that Mulvihill speaks Swahili and has a long history of connections to East Africa. In 1978, as a biology major at the University of California at Irvine, Mulvihill arrived in Kenya for a year of study at the University of Nairobi. The school "at that point had the best zoology department in the world," he said.
But on his first day in the country, Mulvihill became enchanted with Kenya. He recalled that the big news of the day was the death of former Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta, who died on the day of Mulvihill's arrival. When he learned that the English Department at the University had switched to an African-oriented curriculum, on the spur of the moment Mulvihill made an abrupt change in his program of study.
"I said, 'I'm really a literature major,' and wound up immersing myself in African literature, art, theater and Swahili," he said. "I was completely transformed by what I saw in Kenya."
Although he didn't realize it at the time, Mulvihill was also changing his career. He had brought a movie camera with him to film the wild animals for which East Africa is famous. Instead, he wound up making his first film, Sharing is Unity, a documentary on the Iteso people of western Kenya. The movie was shot on 16 mm film and at first featured a voice-over narration.
When Mulvihill returned to Irvine the following year, he was "thrown out of the biology department," for failing to take any science courses. But the school's drama department accepted his credits and Mulvihill had a new major. He later earned a master's degree at UCLA's famous film school.
Because of his continuing love affair with Africa, Mulvihill became unhappy with the state of documentaries on the continent, and he resolved to present more respectful portrayals of Africa on film. "I saw all of these horrible, racist, condescending ethnographic films done by Europeans," he recalled. He decided to continue working on Sharing is Unity, so he mailed a tape recorder to the Iteso village he had filmed. The villagers recorded the ceremony he had filmed, and when he finally got the tape back, Mulvihill substituted the recording for the film's previous commentary.
"It was sort of a first," he said. "I learned sensitivity. If you're an outsider, do not let your viewpoint interfere."
After several years of making documentaries and commercials, Mulvihill returned to Africa in 1983 to film The Marriage of Mariamu, a Swahili-language movie shot in Tanzania. The script for Mariamu came from the actual story of a traditional healer's patient, who, suffering from an unknown malady, goes from hospital to hospital without success. In 1985, at the prestigious FESPACO film festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Mariamu was named the best short film and also won the Organization of African Unity's award for the "most African" film.
Mulvihill said that his being white has been an issue from time to time. When Mariamu was being shown at festivals, he noted that when he appeared in person, the film never won an award. When he was not present, the movie invariably won an award. "Today everyone seems more open-minded," he said, adding, "My heart is African."
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