Something Necessary (2013)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Feature is an intimate moment in the lives of Anne (Sue Wanjiru) and Joseph (Qdamah Kipchumba). A woman struggling to rebuild her life after the civil unrest that swept Kenya after the 2007 elections claiming the life of her husband, the health of her son and leaving her home on an isolated farm in the Kenyan countryside in ruins, she now has nothing but her resolve to rebuild her life left. A young man, troubled gang member who participated in the countrywide violence is drawn to Anne and her farm seemingly in search of redemption. Both, Joseph and Anne need something that only the other can give to allow them to shed the painful memories of their past and move on.
- Actors:
- Susan Wanjiru, Benjamin Nyagaka, Carolyne Chebiwott Kibet, Chomba Njeru, Walter Lagat
- Directors:
- Judy Kibinge
- Writers:
- Mungai Kiroga, Jc Niala
- Genres:
- Drama
Reviews (1) of Something Necessary
Braver Than It Is Skilful - Something Necessary review by griggs
Anne, a nurse and mother, wakes from a coma to find her husband dead, her son still in a coma, and her house burned to the ground – the aftermath of Kenya’s post-election violence, which took almost everything from her in one go. It’s a rough watch at times, horrific in places, and the film doesn’t shy away from any of it, including the unwanted consequences of what was done to her.
Something Necessary earns its title twice over: the film itself feels necessary, and so does Anne’s slow, stubborn crawl back to something like a life, debts and all. As she rebuilds her farm plank by plank, she’s rebuilding herself too, which is a neat trick the film pulls off without labouring the point.
Susan Wanjiru carries the film. She plays Anne with a ferocity you don't often see given to women in these stories, prickly and difficult, no saintliness in sight, and I liked that the film lets her be hard to warm to sometimes.
There's a smaller thread about the young man who helped burn her life down, now putting her house back together as his own penance.
The pacing wobbles, and the moment Anne finally puts words to what happened to her should hit harder than it does — the film reaches for hazy flashbacks instead of trusting her own voice. The visuals are beautiful, composed without being fussy. It’s braver than it is skilful, and it only really flinches when the moment matters most.