The Boy Kumasenu

Gold Coast Film Unit

Drama
60 min     6     1952     Ghana

Overview

It tells the story of a boy Kumasenu who moves to the city of Accra from a small fishing village, encouraged by his cousin Agboh's exaggerated tales of the wonders of city life. Hungry, he steals bread and is caught by police, but is rescued by a doctor and his wife who find him work. Agboh attempts to get Kumasenu to rob the doctor, but Kumasenu foils his cousin's plans.

Reviews

CinemaSerf wrote:
At times, this reminded me quite a lot of one of those Children's Film Foundation movies that were designed for, and starred, the kids. Only this one is set in warmer climes, and stars the young Nortey Engmann in the title role. He lives a subsistence existence on the Atlantic ocean's "Gold Coast" but life there offers him little, so after hearing Dick Whittington-style stories of riches and prosperity in Accra, heads to the capital. Pretty swiftly he finds himself embroiled with the criminal fraternity but is luckily rescued by the well-meaning "Dr. Tamakloe" (Oku Ampofo) who takes him in and finds him work. This only makes him more attractive to the thugs, though, as they try to coerce him into robbing the man of his valuables. "Kumasenu" is inclined to resist, but they become violent and he has a tough choice to make... The story is unremarkable and the acting is generally likewise. Indeed it's probably only the fact that it was made, pretty basically, in situ that really makes it worth watching as his adventures are described to us by a narrator for an hour. There's some nice photography of this bustling city and there's also a sense of just how poverty-stricken the poor were here in the early 1950s too.

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