A dictator plays checkers with a vagrant. The loser? Everyone watching.
This film tells the story of the president of a fictitious African nation who spends a sleepless night playing checkers with a pot-smoking vagabond who claims to be the all-round champion. However, the rules of the game entail the opponents howling vulgar and foul obscenities at one another. The champion proceeds to insult, and trounce, the President. His reward, and his fate, will not surprise anyone.
Acting
Kabongo's simmering arrogance versus Mba's chaotic confidence.
Writing
Checkers as metaphor for colonial extraction — brutal and precise.
Director
Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bakupa-Kanyinda filmed during Mobutu Sese Seko's final years; the fictional 'Zambezia' transparently mirrors Zaire's dying regime.
The checkers variant played — 'jeu de dames' with mandatory insults — derives from Lingala verbal duels called 'mabina', historically used to resolve conflicts without violence.
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