Burial of Kojo, directed by Blitz Bazawule, is a film set in Ghana about a young girl Esi who is warned through spirits to save her father, Kojo, from dying as he is abandoned in a gold mine. While the film is not a traditional, research oriented anthropological work, Burial of Kojo has important anthropological values of how it highlights the culture of Ghana. From the very beginning of the film, the film is visually striking in depicting the background of Ghana. The beautiful cinematography is a characteristic throughout the film, which is extremely important for audience engagement in revealing aspects of Ghanaian culture. For example, the beginning of the film focuses on the main characters’ lives in rural Ghana. Since the film is actually set in Ghana, it depicts the rivers and the ecology of the rural area while also showing what a possible house structure might appear for those living in these areas from Esi’s home. The film then transitions to the city and shows visual aspects of the urban life such as houses, streets, and apparel by those living in urban areas. It can be hard to imagine aspects of Ghanaian life when solely depending on anthropological research and written ethnographies, so the film does a great job in visually depicting this through the beautiful cinematography that showcases both rural and urban life. Aside from the cinematography, the film also portrays aspects of Ghana’s culture through the lives of the main characters. In one of the scenes, the audience has insight into what a religious ceremony might look like in Ghana. The characters are dressed in all white and the sermon takes place outside instead of a grand church building. Through small scenes such as this, the movie highlights aspects of life in Ghana. That being said, not all films does such an excellent job in depicting cultures. Because Burial of Kojo was filmed in Ghana, directed by a Ghanaian director, the film can reveal the many nuances in Ghana’s culture that can distill tropes of life in this region. However, often times, films can actually play a major role in spreading tropes and stereotypes which are opposite to the value of anthropology.
Although the film highlights aspects that are important as an anthropological work in understanding Ghana’s culture, the plot of the movie makes it sometimes unclear to if it was choice by the director solely for the plot of the movie or to also depict Ghana’s culture. A common motif throughout the film were the symbols of a sacred white bird and a crow, with the sacred white bird representing her father who she has to save and the crow representing her malevolent uncle who seeks to harm her father. However, it is difficult to know if the crow and white bird were used solely in the film for the plot or if they have similar symbolic meanings such as the crow acting as a foreshadow for bad omen. Despite the engaging plot that is created through the story of the film, it can be hard to differentiate between what parts of the film are actually stories and what are beliefs within Ghana’s culture.
The strengths and weaknesses in terms of anthropological merit contrast in terms of how anthropology is conveyed in an actual ethnography, such as Lisa Cliggett’s Grain from Grass. Cliggett is a lot more methodical and analytical compared to the film in the way she portrays those in the Gwembe Valley. For example, when describing superstitious beliefs, she clearly explains the multitude of vocabulary necessary to understanding many of these beliefs and analyzes how different parts of the population utilize them for their benefits. The major benefit to this type of ethnographic work is that through her research, Cliggett is able to distill complex issues and ideas that can be hard to describe with simply a film due to lack of context. However, a possible drawback is that due to a lack of visual element, it can be difficult to imagine aspects of a culture when it is very research oriented. Also, due to the emphasis in research, these written works are more difficult to understand compared to the story of a film. In conclusion, while written ethnographies have more anthropological merit in terms of level of research and analysis, Burial of Kojo as a film medium still has important values in anthropology as it gives visual insight into Ghana’s culture that the audience more readily understands due to higher engagement.