Samantha Mugatsia and Sheila Munyiva play lovers on the DL in Rafiki, which opens at SIFF Cinema Uptown today.
For many in the United States, Rafiki, the second feature by the talented Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu, will appear to be straightforward. There are two young black women. They fall in love, but their society is opposed to such unions. A man must love a woman, and a woman must love a man. That is the law of God and nature. Anything else is an abomination to the creator and His creation.
The lovers hide their affair in plain sight. They look just like regular Kenyan women who happen to have a very close relationship. They go out dancing all night, they have soda pop at the kiosk, they dress up together. But, of course, the truth of their union is eventually revealed and their community goes nuts. That’s pretty much the story.
