Who Killed Captain Alex?

Who Killed Captain Alex? (from Weird and Wonderful II: Fifty More Cult Films by George Hughes, available from www.freefall-productions.com)

2010 / Uganda / 64 minutes

“Bomb anything big and important!”

Director: Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey Nabwana / Screenplay: Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey Nabwana / Director of Photography: Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey Nabwana / Music: Vincent Kzito / Production: Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey Nabwana for Ramon Film Productions / Cast: Charles Bukenya (Alex’s Brother), Ernest Sserunya (Richard), William Kakule (Captain Alex), Duada Bisaso (Rock), Prossy Nakyambadde (Ritah).

At the turn of the millennium, the powers that be controlling the film and record industries faced an existential threat on two fronts due to digital technology becoming more accessible for ordinary citizens of the western world. The first was piracy and file- sharing as the internet made it possible to obtain albums and movies without paying for them. The second was consumer- level digital video cameras and editing software that, in the words of George Lucas, made it possible for “Anyone to make a film now”.

   Of course, after the first wave of standard definition DV- shot features (most of them made by veteran directors anyway) suggested a major rethink of the term “Low Budget”, the industry gatekeepers quickly adopted HD as the new minimum requirement. They even moved the goalposts somewhat as to what could and couldn’t be officially defined as a “Film”, effectively relegating the few digital guerrillas who were allowed through to the laziest reaches of the “Found Footage” horror subgenre.

   But a decade of the establishment ignoring DV filmmakers later- by which time the technology had reached some of the most impoverished parts of the developing world- a staggeringly energetic and ridiculously entertaining trailer for an action film nobody had heard of emerged from Uganda. Quickly going viral on YouTube, the two minute promo for Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey Nabwana’s short feature Who Killed Captain Alex? introduced the world to the inspirational, impossible to dismiss no- budget filmmaking heroes of Kampala’s Wakaliwood Studios.

   Nabwana built a computer from scrap parts to edit his footage and recruited friends and neighbours to help build props for and star in his film. But rather than make the expected  docudrama about poverty in the Nateete ghettoes, he had something different in mind. Combining childhood memories of American TV cop shows and Chinese martial arts films (as well as his own experiences during the Ugandan Bush War), Nabwana created an exhilarating and- admittedly, not always intentionally- hilarious Action / Comedy on a budget equivalent to about £200.

   The plot- such as it is- follows an unnamed Kung fu student (Charles Bukenya) as he tries to avenge the death of his brother, Captain Alex (William Kakule), “Uganda’s best soldier” who was murdered in mysterious circumstances whilst deployed against Kampala’s “Deadliest Gang”, the Tiger Mafia, led by the permanently enraged Richard (Ernest Sserunya, also the film’s location manager).

   What follows is a series of increasingly but gleefully overambitious action set- pieces, including some surprisingly well cut together shoot- outs and impressive fight scenes (Wakaliwood Studios have since founded a martial artists school). It all culminates in an explosive finale that gets away with utilising some of the ropiest visual effects ever seen because, by that point, the whole heightened experience has just become so ridiculously enjoyable, you let them pass.

   Recently released on DVD by the AGFA (American Genre Film Archive) label, Who Killed Captain Alex? has, of course, been subjected to much sneering ridicule from all the predictable quarters. But, at it’s heart, it is filmmaking in it’s purest form. Nabwana and his team even make use of equipment and techniques similar to those employed at the dawn of cinema. There’s no denying the tremendous effort and heart put into this and all of their other films, especially considering the circumstances of their production.

    And when you consider the insane money, time and resources available to the makers of, say, Terminator: Genisys (2015) and realise that they could have made a good film instead if they wanted, you have to hand it to a group of mates from a shanty town who started selling DVD’s of their film locally door to door and eventually got it seen all over the world.

   On the subject of DVD’s, the AGFA release also includes “VJ Emmie”’s brilliantly funny commentary as an extra feature. In Uganda, a VJ is a “Video Jockey” who provides a comedy narration for films shown in community video halls. Emmie’s real identity- as well as his relationship to the filmmakers- remains unknown outside of Kampala but his commentary is among the funniest you’ll ever hear.