The Fisherman’s Diary, a film directed by Enah Johnscott, is a cinematic advocacy for gender inclusion in education not just in Cameroon where the film originates, but also in Africa and the world at large.
By Seyi Lasisi
All around the world, women celebrate International Women’s Day with new and poignant demands. This year’s theme and demand, “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress” and “Inspire Inclusion”, isn’t just an uproar for diversity, inclusion, and equity but a stoppage to systemic oppression against women. Globally, whether in conservative or seemingly progressive societies, and religious and liberal communities, conversations about women’s rights are often relegated to the background. Despite this structural and systematic suppression, women worldwide have, in their individual and collective spaces, demanded an end to this. Produced in 2020, The Fisherman’s Diary, a film directed by Enah Johnscott, is a cinematic advocacy for gender inclusion in education not just in Cameroon where the film originates, but also in Africa and the world at large.
Shot in a riverine community in Cameroon, The Fisherman’s Diary follows the story of a female child and her struggles and quest to be educated. The film is inspired by the experience of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani female education activist who in 2014 received a Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. The Fisherman’s Diary orbits around the story of 12-year-old Ekah (Faith Fidel), her father, Solomon (Kang Quintus), her ailing mother, Barbara (Onyama Laura), and her uncle, Lucas (Cosson Chinepoh). Ekah defies her father’s and societal command to not get educated. Faced with fierce antagonism from her father and subtle resistance from her uncle and neighbours, she relies on the help of Teacher Bibih (Ndamo Damarise) to navigate her reality.
Yousafzai, whose story inspired this film, is internationally known for her human rights advocacy for the education of women and children in her native homeland, Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban had banned girls from attending school. On 9 October 2012, following an attempt to assassinate her, Yousafzai’s advocacy attracted international support. In Ekah’s story, there is no Taliban who outrightly denounces her interest in education on religious grounds, neither is she advocating for the education of women. But, representing the Taliban and conservative men, from an African point of view, are Ekah’s loving father, cruel uncle, and ignorant neighbours. And Ekah, by defying her father, is not just advocating for herself but poised as an archetypical advocate for female child education in her community.
Ekah’s story isn’t an isolated case of an ignorant-fueled and malicious act of ostracising females from being educated. It is a microscopic reality of innumerable girl children in various parts of the world. It’s 2024 but when one leisurely walks around their neighbourhood, uneducated children, females topping the list, are in almost every household. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF), “Around the world, 129 million girls are out of school, including 32 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age, and 67 million of upper-secondary school age.” This systematic erasure, propelled on religious and often on malicious ground, has seen countless girl children uneducated. This reality dictates that society, unmindful of any metrics we use to measure progress, isn’t ascending if females of any age and race have to actively demand education.
An aspect of The Fisherman’s Diary that makes it emotionally gripping is the use of foreshadowing. During a casual conversation between father and daughter, Solomon had resolved to not give out Ekah to men who prey on young and innocent girls in the community. Seeing Solomon morph into the feeble-minded and depraved man he swears not to become is emotionally crushing not only to Ekah but to viewers who appreciate the familial relationship between father and daughter.
Faith Fidel, the child actor, single-handedly carries the weight of the film. Her acting, which shows the firm direction of Johnscott, captures her interest in being educated and the emotional displacement that monopolies her consciousness when her father denies her the right to be. Fidel brings to the acting a level of depth that is lacking in some of the older actors.
The film’s cinematography, handled by Rene Etta, often reminds viewers of the geographical occupation of the community by capturing the riverine activities of the people. Another point of attraction is how using close-up shots captured by Etta, the film’s editor, Diba J. Blerk, aids the appreciation and interpretation of the actors’ performances. The sonic landscape of the film heightens the auditory experience. And though with alluring and socially conscious messages, the soundtracks, at times, conflict with the characters’ psychological landscape. At different points, the placement of fast-paced and throbbing songs when characters are introspecting is sonically displeasing.
Despite the genuine and commendable representation and advocacy tone of the film, there are subtle yet significant flaws that might override its other commendable aspects. There is something about the title that in hindsight is misleading. Inspired by Yousafzai’s advocacy and activism and carried by the acting of a female child actor, the film is at all times captured from the point of view of Ekah. Understandably, the film takes place in a riverine community where fishing is a prominent job. But, as much as The Fisherman’s Diary pays attention to Solomon’s tragic story with Barbara and orbits around the riverine community, it’s Ekah’s story that rules supreme. Thus, judging from the film’s subject matter, this title reads as a subtle subversion of the female children narrative it champions. The film isn’t a diary of any fisherman. It is the diary of Ekah.
Another point of concern is how the film fails, despite its lengthy showtime, to show the economic and societal advantages of being an intellectual. For a film that constantly gives screentime to dialogues that ridicule and debase education as an activity of lazy and financially unsuccessful people, showing scenes that conflict with this narrative would have ensured a sense of balance.
As women worldwide celebrate and advocate for inclusion and patriarchal structures persistently cancel and tame their voices, films like this will be commended for their advocacy. It is hoped that men and women who have imbibed patriarchal ethics will rip off these ideologies of secluding women from being educated.
Rating: 3/5
(The Fisherman’s Diary is currently streaming on Netflix)
Seyi Lasisi is a Nigerian student with an obsessive interest in Nigerian and African films as an art form. His film criticism aspires to engage the subtle and obvious politics, sentiments, and opinions of the filmmaker to see how they align with reality. He tweets @SeyiVortex. Email: seyi.lasisi@afrocritik.com.