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Nishan, de Shumete Yidnekachew
Caught in the middle
critique
rédigé par Derin Ajao
publié le 10/03/2013

A golden gun and a house deed form the loop that encircles all the players in Shumete Yidnekachew's Nishan. The film's eponymous character is a female business executive ready to bargain everything on a new life abroad. An unexpected cog in the wheel soon sets her dreams on a spinning ride full of twists, counter-twists, and betrayals that test her will and threaten her trip abroad.
Before she can get her wish, Nishan played by Berukan Befkadu, has to tackle a number of men on her path: a gambling father; a mysterious young man; a proud son eager to have his father's gun back; another hoping to win her heart and an inheritance; a one-armed bandit and his sidekick.

In a web of unending hooks and surprises, all their individual stories are intertwined with the basis of negotiation switching between the house deed and the World War II issue pistol, which are rapidly exchanged between the clean and the crooked. At different times, these objects of exchange are lucky charms or an albatross for the bearer.

Yidnekachew's script reels with enough intrigue and twists for a TV soap, sometimes bordering on the melodramatic. A number of predictable twists and his didactic enthusiasm in certain scenes - like one where an actor is preaching cultural preservation - sometimes came across as forced.
Despite the flaws in his script, there is no denying Shumete's directing skills, especially in bringing out an overall impressive performance from his actors. They all seem to have a good hold on their roles, even though Befkadu seemed slightly detached at the film's start before blossoming into her own. While some of the exchange scenes involving the golden gun look like direct copies of one another, Shumete's narrative is made stronger through his mostly brilliant use of the camera.

Although, his use of external shots are minimal, the few that we see give a good visual context to the ongoing action: despite Nishan's inner turmoil (and that of the other characters), the Addis-Ababa hustle continues unaware of the crises riddling its inhabitants.

Nishan's film score complements the action effectively changing in tempo and eliciting the right emotions as it heralds what happens next. The music is fitting, suggesting calm and danger as each occur. In the face of a budding romance, the music is toned down and as the climax lurks, the score is upbeat. Whatever its shortcomings may be, Nishan is an undeniably beautiful movie.

Aderinsola Ajao

p. 1

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