Cinema
Jit
Michael Raeburn · 1990
Synopsis
In Harare, a young man nicknamed UK, who lives with his musician uncle, falls from a taxi and, as he comes to, sees the young woman he at once resolves to make his wife. The beauty's father demands as dowry an expensive stereo system and a sum of money, and UK must face a rival from the small-time underworld. He is followed everywhere by his jukwa, an ancestral spirit that only he can see, which demands beer and wants him to earn money for his parents who have stayed behind in the countryside.
Context
Shot in English and produced by London companies, from a novel by its author, the film is set for a good part in the beer garden of the Queens Hotel in Harare, then the heart of jit, a dance genre from which it takes its name. Oliver Mtukudzi plays himself, and the music brings together the Bhundu Boys, Thomas Mapfumo, Ilanga, Lovemore Majaivana and Mtukudzi. The film satirises certain Shona beliefs, and its author saw in it the conflict between town and country. On its release, it played to full houses for two months.
Who it is for
In English, a little over an hour and a half. A light, unpretentious comedy, carried by its music.
Prizes and reception
The first Zimbabwean feature film to attract international attention; prize for cinematography at Ouagadougou, for acting at Amiens, New Directors at New York in 1993.
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