Maangamizi: The Ancient One (1999)
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- Synopsis:
An American woman doctor comes to Tanzania to work at a hospital for the mentally disturbed, with her Tanzanian lover. There, she meets a sometimes catatonic patient, Samahe (Amandina Lihamba / Zainabu Bafadhili), who seems to be in communication with another reality. In their confrontation with their individual and collective pasts, Dr. Asira (Barbara O) and Samehe are bound by fears and half remembered images of unbearable pain. Only through the spirit of Maangamizi, can the women resume their lives with an understanding of the ancestors and their eternal presence in a world of cruelty, hatred and death. It is a story that seeks to reclaim the connection between Africa and her Diaspora, and one that dares to represent the histories of two continents as it peels away layers upon layers of pain to bring healing of the soul. - Actors:
- Barbarao, Amandina Lihamba, Samahani Kejeri, Waigwa Wachira, Chemi Che-Mponda, Mwanajuma Ali Hassan, Kisaka A. Kisaka, Adam Mwambile, Mary Chibwana, Ummie Mahfouda Alley, Zainabu Bafadhili, Janet Fabian, Stumai Halili, Mgeni, Thecla Mjatta, Mona Mwakalinga, Evodia Ndonde
- Directors:
- Martin Mhando, Ron Mulvihill
- Producers:
- Martin Mhando, Queenae Taylor Mulvihill, Ron Mulvihill
- Writers:
- Queenae Taylor Mulvihill
- Genres:
- Drama
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Reviews (1) of Maangamizi: The Ancient One
Negotiating Diaspora and Ancestral Memory - Maangamizi: The Ancient One review by griggs
What stands out in Maangamizi: The Ancient One is the quiet restraint with which it handles material that could so easily tip into melodrama. Instead of outsiders imposing on Africa, it follows a doctor from the diaspora, armed with Western training, trying to help a patient who seems beyond reach. Science is her instrument, yet she moves through a world where healing is tied to memory, ritual, and spirits that appear not as spectacle but as steady, physical presences.
The effect is at once disorienting and calming. Viewers share the doctor’s uncertainty over what to believe, but the unhurried pace leaves room to notice the small things — the birdsong, the Tanzanian light, the space to breathe.
By the end, the question has shifted: is the woman in the ward truly the one who needs curing, or is it the doctor who must rediscover her ancestral ties?