The band use strange hand peddled tricycles to get about as
most of the members suffer from Polio and are unable to walk. Their songs are
about their lives on the streets from being laughed at for being handicapped to
songs about sleeping on cardboard. Bad things keep coming at the various
members but they never let it get them down and remain focused on making a
better life for themselves and their families. In one scene, the leader of the
band Staff Benda Bilili a street papa called Ricky Lickabu receives a call to
say that the shack that he has been staying at has been burned down. He simply
turns to the camera and says “these things happen in life”. He is later seen sleeping
on the street with his wife and four children.
Along with Ricky another one of the stars of the film is Roger Landu who was introduced to the band by the French film makers. Landu fashioned his own instrument using an empty tin can, a twig and string and is able to make incredible music from just one high pitched twang. After joining the group as a shy but dedicated young boy by the end of the film he is on stage in
All the way through the members of the band are sure to try
to educate those around them about the likes of hard work and vaccinations and
even share out what little money they make between their various hangers on.
The street children who surround the band who have had no formal education
speak with more wisdom and knowledge than I’ve ever heard come from a Western
child. They are aware of their surroundings, what has caused them and the
various legal and illegal ways out and debate amongst themselves the various
possibilities of their future. It’s heartbreaking.
One theme throughout the film is everyone’s desire to get to
Europe . Europe
is almost treated as a mystical place where anything is possible. Some people
have misconceptions such as one child who tells his young friend that “Europe is a country that God put here so we can compare
it to our own”. Everyone knows that their best chance of survival is to make it
to Europe and the streets of Europe ’s cities
are testament to the fact that many get here.
Benda Bilili! is a
thoroughly uplifting film though you have to get through some pretty rough
viewing to get there. The story and people are life affirming and the music is
excellent.
8/10
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