The titlecard of *RAFIKI*. I wonder whose handwriting this is.

Lesbians

The Roncesvalles Quiet Book Club #14 was in the morning of July 14, and yet, what did I do around 3:30 AM? I decided to be brave and watch the film I'd dreaded ever since its release 8 years ago! Now I can finally answer every white lesbian who, as soon as she becomes aware of my existence, immediately asks me, "Have you seen RAFIKI?" with: "Yes, ma'am, I HAVE seen RAFIKI."

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When I realized that, as part of my Forcing Myself to Watch Movies challenge, I'd have to watch a queer romance starting with R, I was like, "Uh-oh."

The same way I dreaded watching 12 YEARS A SLAVE (I watched it, but not on purpose), the same way I'll probably never watch ROOTS. My traumas are not my entertainment. That kind of entertainment is not meant for me. But the queer romance starting with R was indeed RAFIKI, by Wanuri Kahiu. And it was gorgeous. Splendid. Magnificent.

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Best graphic design

The film first stroke me with its beautiful opening credits: animated collages on an upbeat soundtrack that surprised by setting a tone that was way different from my expectations. I had expected the film to be bleak and traumatic, not cool and romantic.

The music stops and the beat drops on this image. I love Black people!

Best Soundtrack

This is the song you hear when the movie starts:

The entire soundtrack is fantastic. It introduced me to incredible Kenyan artists, such as rapper Muthoni Drummer Queen (who appears on three tracks from the original soundtrack) and singer Njoki Karu (who has two). I needed that. Black African women supporting lesbian art through their music.

Best casting

The actors are incredibly talented. Each and every one of them. I’m not familiar with Kenyan cinema, so I don’t know if it’s always been this way, but I’m so happy to see that African filmmakers now have the funding to hire talented actors, and that African actors now have access to training. We’re going places, I’m telling you! O BOSSO!

Shoutout to Nini Wacera, the casting director, actress, and acting coach! You can tell that she takes acting skills very seriously. She sets the bar high. She also plays Mercy in the film (Kena’s very religious mother), and she steals every scene.

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Best scenario

Kena comes from a very modest background, her parents are divorced and her very religious mom (with whom she lives) hasn’t taken the separation very well. Kena works with her loving dad, who runs a little street pharmacy and is the face of a political campaign. His main opponent is the very rich and very influent Peter Okemi.

Kena is always hanging out with the boys, and she can’t help but notice Peter Okemi’s daughter Ziki hanging out with the girls. One day, Ziki makes the first moveand the two of them start spending time together. Ziki asks Kena out, they go on dates, and they have the best time.

I didn’t know it was the film **adaptation of a short story!** (“Jambula Tree" by Monica Arac de Nyeko, a Kenya-based Ugandan writer) To whom it may concerned, my first published book is a collection of short stories (also available in Italian) and most of them are sapphic!

They both go to the same church where the preacher spits out homophobic sermons. Ziki is very handsy. Kena wants to be discrete. Ziki tells her she’s paranoid and that no one notices. But when it turns out that people do notice and don’t take it well, guess who tell whom to stop being naive…

The parallel between the fathers' reactions as they pick up their lesbian daughters from the police station is striking. Kena's father may lose the election, but he definitely wins my heart.

Best photography

Every shot of this film is a poem, the portrait of beauty itself. I wanted to press pause and take a photo literally every second. And starting from the incredible opening credits. When I’m 111 and ready to call it a life and you ask me what movies had the best photography in the history of cinema, RAFIKI will be one of them. See for yourself:

And I don’t even like bananas (I won’t even touch them)

Nini Wacera as Mercy, Kena’s mom. Popping the question every parent in denial will ask their lesbian child.

Samantha Mugatsia as Kena, when she finally computes that Ziki (Sheila Munyiva) is into her. Absolutely powerful silent acting.

Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), when she sees that Kena is finally catching her drift

**Shout out to Sheila Munyiva’s braid artist!**

Neville Misati as Blacksta, Kena’s male best friend who seriously believes he has a shot

You might not have noticed, but this whole post was subtly interspersed with subliminal mentions of the word “lesbian,” designed to drill into your brain — and mine — that it is a beautiful word and something to be proud of. So there’s no need to hide your screen from lesbophobic wandering eyes when you read a post like this. You don’t need those people in your life anyway.

Less bias, more lesbians!

Up next on my watchlist: a straight romance that starts with S, a biopic that starts with T and a comedy that starts with U! But first, I should kick off my Forcing Myself to Watch Documentaries challenge, where I watch one or several documentaries every 15 of the month, in an alphabetical order.

R-Queer Romance: RAFIKI (2018)