The Golden Peacock in Lilongwe on Friday night hosted the premiere of The Gunless Soldier film which focuses on a girl on a vengeance mission.
With a cast of over 50, the movie is about young girl Onani whose mother is brutally murdered.
Fuelled by vengeance, the girl embarks on a journey to seek justice. But along the way, she encounters a self-proclaimed community commander who trains her to be part of soldiers. However, instead of finding solace in her new role, she witnesses more terror loss as the soldiers loot, kill innocent villagers and take the law into their own hands.
In one scene, the soldiers target their colleague’s family member, accusing his grandmother of witchcraft. They set her on fire. In retaliation, the soldier attacks the commander’s girlfriend Shura, beating and sexually assaulting her, leaving her half dead.
After Shura questions the commander’s leadership and what he stands for, he confronts the village chief, who also benefited from the loot.
He tells the chief that he is done cleaning up his mess, only to kill other members of his group before taking his own life.
The commander’s mantle is passed down to Onani. Despite the hardships, she becomes a heroine in the community. She is a beacon of hope, standing against brutal ways of community policing.
According to film director Joyce Chavula, the film serves as a reflection of the dire consequences of people taking the law into their own hands.
She said: “The Gunless Soldier is inspired by real-life events and comes from a point of pain looking at some of the things that keep happen in our communities.”
“This movie was produced to allow Malawians spark conversations about justice, accountability and rule of law.”
Pegged at K23 million in production costs, Chavula said the movie received K7 million from the Copyright Fund.
She said even though there were challenges in term of identifying the right cast, the team executed beyond expectations.
Ashukile Mwakisulu, who played the role of commander, said being part of the cast allowed him to work with other actors he has not worked with before.
“We put every effort in the movie and it was a very unique experience for me. I hope movie lovers will enjoy,” he said.
On the other hand, Copyright Fund manager Blessings Botha commended Chavula for the project.
“This is encouraging that funds for creative projects are being accounted for. Joyce Chavula has delivered and we hope that who seek grants can learn from this,” he said.
A patron, Dyson Kankhuni, said while it took him sometime to figure out what was happening in the movie, it became clear that the film denounces some things that happen in our communities.
“We have normalised things like mob justice. These are things we should rid of,” he said.
The cast includes Mphatso Chikuni, Kelvin Ngoma, Edwin Chonde and Lilian Sangano.
The movie will also go to Blantyre and Mzuzu for screening that will target university students
