#27Guns reminds me of a man in our village who sold coffee beans and bought a motorcycle.
By the time he bought the motorcycle, he had a bicycle.
So, the man would ride his bicycle in the morning and then show off the motorbike in the evening. His argument was that he had to show the village that he had it all.
#27GUNS attempted to fix the Uganda film industry’s major problem by telling a Ugandan Story only to worsen the problem by poorly telling a known story.
The Film pauses an absolute disaster by terribly trying to sell propaganda that exonerates NRA from it’s atrocities let alone the idea of creating the impression that atrocities were committed by one side (UNLA)!
Talking costumes, it is only in #27Guns where rebels (Ugandan) had to don Nike sneakers, Timberland boots and other fancy attires. Really!
Again some scenes where poorly chosen. Why a fully tarmacked Hoima road in 80’s! Modern doors and windows and locks on houses used and fluent English speaking Obote (Accent).
Another sacrilegious sin committed by the makers was to tell a right story at a wrong time.
Given the fact that the film is based on a true story, the script writer had to consider the fact that the story was simply stale and annoying to a section of Ugandans. #27GUNS is a story that would have been told between 1987 and 1995 or probably way later, say after the main character is retired.
It is common knowledge that funding is crucial in regards to film making and basically looking at ill funded Ugandan films, #27GUNS had to prove a point
Besides all that, the story is a poorly packaged attempt to answer impossible questions.
The transition from one scene to another makes it one of Uganda’s best ‘student film’ other than a biopic feature film as christened by some pundits.
Conclusively, given the budget, the hype and the names behind the film I can authoritatively say that #27GUNS promised Much and delivered less.
Gabriel Buule is a Journalist
