Ugandan R&B sensation Bobi Wine sounds like the love child of Fela Kuti and KRS One. His smooth vocal tones over pulsating grooves result in an infectious mix of reggaeton-inspired dance music infused with social change lyricism. The lyricism reverberates over the grooves from the heart and mind of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu. A Ugandan opposition leader, activist, and former Member of Parliament for Kyadondo County in Wakiso District, Kyagulanyi uses his alter-ego “Bobi Wine” to spread socially conscious messages to his people in hopes of sparking change. In the documentary Bobi Wine: The People’s President, we are given front-row access to Kyagulanyi’s push to challenge the oppressive 35-year regime of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, culminating in Kyagulanyi’s participation in the 2021 presidential race. Bobi Wine: The People’s President is a thought-provoking, empathetic and frustrating documentary. The film displays a never-ending struggle, where community members deal with the repercussions of abuse from political power. The film is rife with inspirational moments that are equally balanced out with heart-breaking ones. The documentary carries weight, and it explicitly shows the cost of being a civil rights leader against regime opposition.
There is a definitive line between the film’s title character and the man who is the subject of the film. We never see where Bobi Wine and Kyagulanyi intersect. In recollection, the film is more about Kyagulanyi’s efforts as Bobi Wine becomes a means of connection with the people that Kyagulanyi wishes to get his message to. The documentary spends much of the film with Kyagulanyi. Whether listening in on strategy sessions or political commentary with his philanthropist wife, Barbie Kyagulanyi, sitting in on Parliament votes, or watching as Bobi travels to the US to speak about the atrocities in Uganda, the film is not an exploration of his music or its impact. Instead, Bobi Wine: The People’s President is about the crowded streets of Uganda where citizens can be snatched off the street while speaking live to the press about militaristic police brutality. Where a presidential candidate can have 30 or more of his opponent’s campaign officials abducted days before the campaign. We see Kyagulanyi taken by the authorities during a campaign rally, only to resurface later broken, beaten, and bruised.
Bobi Wine: The People’s President is subversively a David versus Goliath story. The documentary co-directed by Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo effectively utilizes Bobi Wine’s popularity and Kyagulanyi’s activism to expose the dictatorship qualities of Yoweri Museveni’s regime. This feat is done well, although we never get much insight into the decision of a successful entertainer’s actions that disturbs their social comfort by taking on a life-long regime that they themselves have found success in. There is no opposition or turmoil within the Kyagulanyi household. Barbie Kyagulanyi shows Bobi support without hesitance, even when it comes down to getting the children out of their homes to make sure they are safe from Museveni’s enforcers. In essence Bobi Wine: The People’s President is a testament to the spirit of activism. You see the dogged persistence of past champions like King, Milk, or X. You witness the violence perpetrated against the people of Uganda just as we have records of the violence used against the people who fought for civility on American soil. The images are sobering.
With documentaries akin to Bobi Wine: The People’s President there is a distinctive roadblock in critiquing the work. Is the film made well? Yes. Will it resonate to those empathetic to its subject matter? Yes. Is it entertaining? No. It is not meant to be. It is not a “feel good” film. It has the potential to weigh on you and make you feel hope for a better world is non-existent and the efforts to change it are meaningless. But it shows the truth. Not just the truth in the unjust, but the resounding truth in spirit to fight the unjust. It can motivate and educate. It can provide a spark. Bobi Wine: The People’s President has all the ingredients to be an effective display of modern history. Although it uses name recognition to gain our attention, and we never get to really connect to Kyagulanyi’s origin of aspirations, the people of Uganda’s struggle are memorialized, and we get to watch one of its heroes in action.
Photo courtesy of National Geographic Documentary Films
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