On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
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Synopsis
On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.
Cast
- Susan Chardy
- Roy Chisha
- Blessings Bhamjee
- Chungu Bwalya
- Maggie Mulubwa
- Benson Mumba
- Henry B.J. Phiri
- Elizabeth Chisela
- Doris Naulapwa
- Mary Mulabo
Letterboxd User Reviews
3.9
31.6K
18.8K
11.0K
- May 16, 2024
Decades of mediocre Sundance movies — and some very good ones, too — have conditioned us to expect certain things from culturally specific dramas about young people who return home from the big city and find themselves struggling to reconcile modern identity with family…
davidehrlichMar 9, 2025Lifetimes of transgression hidden in absurd mundanity. Every “are you all right?” met with cold shrugs, clunky jokes, anything to bypass the rot at the center of a family. A true stunner. Susan Chardy and Elizabeth Chisela are a revelation.It’s rare these days that I see a…
Brandon StreussnigJul 11, 2025quite excellent. maybe the best first 10 mins in a movie all year
David Sims - Mar 6, 2025
What do you hope people will feel when this film is over? SC: You go first. RN: I made this film because I have a lot of questions. I would like people to feel bittersweet about it. I constructed it so that you get what you want from it. I want some people to come out of…
Marya E. GatesMay 24, 2024I’m gonna be honest: I’m flabbergasted that “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” wasn’t in the main competition. Instead, Zambian writer/director Rungano Nyoni’s follow-up to her incredible debut “I Am Not a Witch” is in Un Certain Regard. It’s a mistake. Because “On Becoming a…
Robert DanielsJan 22, 2025a perfect example of how even the smallest of films can have the loudest of voices
˗ˏˋ suspirliam ˊˎ˗ - Nov 14, 2024
A guinea fowl warns others of danger. The journey of On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is about abuse being revealed and the courage it takes to confront social expectations. Events of the past are exposed gradually across the film, but it never becomes too detailed, leaving the…
Darren Carver-BalsigerAug 18, 2024There’s something far more powerful and angry about this film than I am not currently alert enough to give it credit for, but rest assured when that final shot rolled around it was like someone had electrocuted me. Desperate to give this another shot when I’m well rested…
ashFeb 25, 2025Surrealism and stories about family often go well together. There’s a strange, uneasy, and uncomfortable feeling associated with family. Secrets do not come into the forefront of discussion but rather stifled or suffocated into furniture, walls, and beds. If generations did…
Paul
Queue Community Reviews
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Top Reviews
- Jake lovedOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Very powerful and deeply affecting. It feels so personal, like a love letter to culture and a critique of its shortcomings. Amazing performances and great pacing. It was slow, but every scene felt intentional and well-crafted, creating a riveting story that makes you feel every moment.
nevan likedOn Becoming a Guinea Fowla remarkably well-written and deceptively sad film that centers a zambian family and their troublesome history. the opening moments foreshadow its slow pace and rare moments of humor; smart and unique throughout with great performances
Bennie likedOn Becoming a Guinea FowlAn exploration of sexual abuse within a deeply misogynistic Zambian family. It’s a moving piece of film making, powerful with emotional weight. I also admire that it centers around the women’s experience. 7.5
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SteveO likedOn Becoming a Guinea FowlGreat story of a younger woman who wants to break her family of a stigma hidden behind cultural norms
angele watched_neutraldOn Becoming a Guinea Fowli absolutely loved this movie. there’s so much to talk & think through
jam jammy jambam likedOn Becoming a Guinea FowlUpsetting.
- Alex lovedOn Becoming a Guinea Fowl
9/10
Atom Users Reviews
Metacritic
Mar 18, 2025
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl details the ways tradition is exploited and warped, and to whom’s favor, gently at times, and with a steely edge at others.
Andrew Crump
Paste Magazine
Mar 9, 2025
In its atmosphere of gnawing discomfort with imposed secrecy about bad men, “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” is a uniquely dimensional work of character and temporality. Nyoni’s brilliance is in portraying the gap between public and private, past and present, as spaces where submerged feelings awkwardly co-exist, leaving nobody able to feel truly whole.
Robert Abele
Los Angeles Times
Dec 16, 2024
Nyoni’s Zambia-set film, using the Bemba language and English, deftly juggles humour with pathos, domestic drama with surreal fantasy flourishes. It’s dizzyingly creative and rather special.
Wendy Ide
The Observer (UK)
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