Sunday, March 10, 2024

Bobi Wine: The People's President (2023)

Nominated for Best Documentary Feature    It's this year's Navalny.  Content warning:  gun violence, attempted assassination

Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu rose to fame under his pop star alias, Bobi Wine, releasing songs criticizing the corruption of President Yoweri Museveni.  In 2018, Bobi Wine successfully ran for a seat in Uganda's congress, where he fought against a bill that would remove the age limit for presidential terms, accurately stating that Museveni was trying to become dictator-for-life.  The bill passed but Bobi was not deterred.  He campaigned and became head of the opposition party.  During the pandemic, Museveni announced a general election.  This film chronicles the strong-arm tactics used to cow and discourage Bobi Wine's entire party, including fake charges, theft, political arrests, and torture.

This is an important film but God is it depressing when you see how much effort it takes to stand up to fascism.  Especially when it's had 30 years to consolidate power.  If you remember God Loves Uganda, a documentary from a decade ago, you'll recall that Museveni is being backed by Christian fundamentalist money for pushing hate against the LGBT community.  Which adds another horrible layer to this film and brings it all back full-circle.

Bobi Wine:  The People's President is currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+, because they are about to become the same service.

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