FILM REVIEW: THE DREAM

FILM: The Dream
Director: Ismail Mkungo, Nice Mohamed(Mtunis)
CAST: Riyama Ally, Nice Mohamed, Hadija Kopa, Hemed Suleiman.
RATING: 3/5

First of all  if you have not watched this film just find it now since it's story is great being essayed splendidly by Riyama Ally as a mentally challenged girl.

Riyama Ally as a mentally challenged girl is raped by Hemed Suleiman and is impregnated but her mother(Hadija Kopa) suspects Nice Mohamed as the one who impregnated her mentally ill daughter. Hadija Kopa reports to police and Mtunis is told that his judgement as a rapist is 30 years in jail. Though he didn't rape the girl Mtunis agrees to marry her so that he escapes life in jail. After nine months Riyama gives birth  and one day she recovers suddenly from her mental problems. Riyama and Mtunis agree to marry but Hemed wants his child and starts to disturb the two. Riyama's mental recovery is periodic so one day she turns monster by killing and eating her kid. Eventually it is discovered that Hadija Kopa was just dreaming and not true, so the whole story was just a dream. Hadija heads to her daughter's room/Riyama's room and tells her about the nightmare and the two end up laughing.

Well, this is one of the best stories in Tanzanian movies which succeeded to show medical-social issues being essayed by Riyama Ally as a mentally ill girl who lacks social attention and eventually raped. With a remarkable performance this is one of Riyama's must see movies and one of few best performances in Swahili movies. Despite Riyama's best performance and great story the film lacked good picture and good directtion, Some actors including Hemed and Hadija Kopa didn't suit well to their characters. Hemed had poor performance as a struggling young man who has poor life, he didn't look like those youngsters who are struggling in town and big cities. Hadija Kopa too didn't impress us with her performance though she is trying to improve her acting skills. Dr. Ndimbo lacked acting prowess completely. Mtunis as a loving and caring man was good in his character.

Last word of the film is that, it is encouraging us to have more best stories in our movies in the future which will deal with serious issues in our societies and not romantic stories only as many of our movies are currently.