Becoming The Muse

Bako Movie Review

Bako is a Zimbabwean supernatural horror movie  written, directed and edited by Tafadzawa Ranganai. The film premiered at the second edition of Botswana’s Bantu Film Festival in 2023 as Cavern and then did a festival circuit, before its Zimbabwean premier on 24 May 2024 at Jasen Mphepho Little Theatre under its current title Bako; a Shona word for cavern.

The premise of Bako is centred around 4 artisanal gold miners, whose quest for treasure in an abandoned mine, turns into a nightmare fight for survival.

The Good

On the backdrop of his award-winning production, Nevanji, Tafadzwa Ranganai once again pushes the boundary of a limited budget, to deliver a terrifyingly claustrophobic production, that can hold its own, on a list of Halloween scare-fests.

The cast’s energy is infectious and they are convincing as artisanal miners, from the violent bursts of nervous energy down to the lingo, bringing the characters to life, you could feel their excitement, their fear and their desperation… Paul Zibgowa as Kuda was the film’s heart, soul and glue, a memorable character you will remember after watching this movie.

While at its core it’s horror entertainment, it’s also a social commentary body of work that gives a fairly accurate peek into the world of artisanal mining and the illegal miners known as makorokoza, the desperation hidden behind their nervous bravado and the grand dreams of making it rich, that fuels their endeavours, plus the bureaucracy, used by those with wealth and power to gate-keep the mining sector.

This, is one of the first local films I have seen, where they actually built their own set, there’s an informative and interesting documentary that highlights how they created their rock-face set on a $500 budget, which was so seamlessly stitched together with the shots made on location that it all seemed real and or oh so terrifying.

The Bad

One of the central characters to the plot, Domingo is essentially off-screen and never makes an appearance despite being referenced multiple times and built up into a larger-than-life character, that its rather disappointing that we never get to meet the man with the plan.

Couldn’t help notice one tiny inaccuracy about artisanal miners, they always have their head lamps on their heads, all the time, even when not underground or in shafts, ready to go into the earth’s underbelly, where its always night.

It’s a dark movie, as in literally, it has limited lighting, watching it in a room with too much ambient light, can ruin the viewing experience.

Bako is in Shona with English Subtitles, so non-Shona speakers will have to read the subtitles to follow along the dialogue, although some of the finer nuances and colloquial figures of expression, are lost in translation.

They missed an opportunity to introduce the phenomenon of chadzimira, a state of being lost or bewildered, which happens when one desecrates a sacred area, which has you going round and round in circles and ending up at the same spot, which could have explained away the limited set looking familiar and repetitive scenes.

The Ugly

 It’s a horror movie and  can feel intense and claustrophobic following people trapped in a cavern, with light mostly coming from their headlamps.

The ending leaves unanswered questions without offering closure.  

Final Thoughts

Bako stands out as a significant step in Zimbabwean cinema, a bold, culturally rooted, and narratively ambitious production, that blends folklore, survival, and psychological dread.

Is this something you would watch?

Bako available to rent or buy click button below ⤵️