At the beginning of the Nambi Movie teaser, we are introduced to Kintu. He is seen living and surviving alone in the wilderness, washing his hands at a crater lake with a background folk song “ono namagalo,,,,,,,,,”
The movie’s plot is derived from one of the oldest stories in Ugandan mythology the story of Kintu, who is considered to be the first man and nambi, his wife.
Myth has it that Nambi was not from earth, she was a princess and daughter of Ggulu the king of heaven who visited earth one time. She met a man, Kintu, whom she fell in love with.
Nambi goes back to her father’s kingdom to seek permission to go back down to earth and marry the love of her life, Kintu.
NAMBI THE WORLD OF MEN IS NOT TO BE PLAYED WITH – in a broad majestic voice we hear Ggulu saying in the movie teaser.
We again see kintu sleeping on a rock and looking up to ggulu (Heavens) probably hoping to see his love Nambi descending.
The trailer gives us a glimpse of walumbe too, Uganda mythology’s embodiment of death and evil, the one who takes all children of Nambi.
Kintu and Nambi in Ugandan mythology
In the myth, Kintu appears on the plains of Uganda with a cow which was his only possession and he fed on its milk and cow dung before being rewarded with bananas and millet from the sky god, Ggulu.
Before his encounter with Ggulu, Kintu meets a woman named Nnambi and her sister who had come from the sky. They first take his beloved cow to Ggulu to prove his humanness and to seek Ggulu’s permission of his admission into the sky. Once arriving in the sky, Kintu’s humanness is tested by Ggulu through five consecutive trials, each one trickier and more difficult than the last. However, Kintu is able to come out of each trial victorious with the assistance of an unidentified divine power. Ggulu is impressed with Kintu’s wit and resilience, rewarding his efforts with his daughter Nnambi and many agricultural gifts as dowry which included: bananas, potatoes, beans, maize corn, ground-nuts, and a hen.
From this point, Kintu was given the basic materials to be able to create life in Uganda. However, before leaving the sky, Kintu and Nnambi were warned by Ggulu not to come back for any reason as they made their journey back to Earth for fear that Nnambi’s brother, Walumbe (meaning “disease” and “death” in Bantu), would follow them back to Earth and cause them great trouble.
Kintu and Nnambi disregarded Ggulu’s warning when Kintu returned to Earth to pick millet which would be feed for their newly got chicken Walumbe had figured out Nnambi’s whereabouts and convinced Kintu to allow him to live with them on Earth. Upon seeing Walumbe accompanying Kintu on their way down from the sky, Nnambi at first denied her brother but Walumbe eventually persuaded her into allowing him to stay with them.
The three of them first settled in Magongo in Buganda where they rested and planted the first crops on earth: banana, maize corn, beans, and groundnuts. During this time, Kintu and Nnambi had three children and Walumbe insisted on claiming one as his own. Kintu denied his request, promising him one of his future children; however, Kintu and Nnambi proceeded to have many more children and denied Walumbe with each child causing him to lash out and declare to kill each and every one of Kintu’s children and claim them in that sense. Each day for three days, one of Kintu’s children died by the hands of Walumbe until Kintu returned to the sky and told Ggulu of the killing.
Ggulu suspected this to be the actions of Walumbe and sent Kayiikuuzi (meaning “digger” in Bantu), his son, to Earth to attempt to capture and bring Walumbe back to the sky. Kintu and Kayiikuuzi descended to Earth and were notified by Nambi that a few more of their children had died during Kintu’s trip to the sky.
In response to this, Kayiikuuzi called upon Walumbe and the two met and fought. During the fight, Walumbe was able to slip away into a hole in the ground and continued to dig deeper as Kayiikuuzi tried to retrieve him. These gigantic holes are believed to be in present-day Mityana.
According to the myth, Kayiikuuzi is still chasing Walumbe and every time earthquakes and tsunamis strike, it is Kayiikuuzi almost catching Walumbe.
It will be interested to see what kind of spin this movie will give to this age old story.
The cast
- Bint Kasedde as Kintu,
- Doreen Nabbanja as Nambi,
- Michael Musoke,
- Jenkins Joel Mutumba,
- Zara mwiza Semakula
- Opio Moses Isingoma
- Marie Corazone
- Hanish Rubanza
Every Ugandan has certainly heard of the first man Kintu and his wife Nambi and therefore this promises to be a great movie.
We rate the teaser at 8/10
REACTIONS TO THE TEASER
24/7’s managing director Daniel Lutaaya said he stumbled upon to trailer and couldn’t wait for the movie.
Remember the story of Kintu and Nambi? Nambi the daughter of God(Ggulu) who fell in love with Kintu.
A Ugandan film director just made it into a movie. I stumbled upon this trailer while browsing through YouTube and I can't wait for this moviehttps://t.co/zdtFGcMXgh— Daniel Lutaaya (@DanielLutaaya) September 25, 2022
Renowned musician and Swangz Avenue producer Benon Mugumbya said
Great job @SharpeSsewali and the team 👏🏿🙌🏽🙌🏽
— Benon Mugumbya (@benonswangz) September 25, 2022
Such are the movies for me. Africa we can tell our stories. Imagine all these stories they told us in childhood are made into movies. We would be preserving our cultures, norms and beliefs transferring them to the next generation
— PRESIDENT#2041🇺🇬🇺🇬 (@TumwesigyeJord1) September 25, 2022
