Binti

Frederike Migom, 2019, Belgium

Well this was a little ray of sunshine amid these dark days!

It’s a kids’ film, but it looked kinda fun so we went to see it anyway. And fun it is! A heartwarming tale of illegal Congolese immigrants Jovial and his vivacious 12-year-old daughter Binti. They meet, get to know, and ultimately become totally entwined with – and saved by – native Belgians Christine and her son Elias (11 and mad about saving the okapi).

The story is told through the children’s eyes, so the challenges faced are dealt with simplistically and of course everything works out fine. If only real life were like this. But, hey, why shouldn’t it be?

Unfortunately, the version shown by the cinema was the Catalan dub. Thankfully, there were also subtitles, so I understood most of it, but a dubbed film is awful. Stop doing it Spain. It ruins everything. The voice acting was so over the top it made the film seem even more infantile.

Yet the life-affirming film underneath still shone through. A joy!