Joachim Buwembo
12 October 2008
column
Nairobi — What does it take to produce great actors? A combination of talent, training, exposure, luck and several other things are what in the end may help an aspiring actor to become a Hollywood star.
But now there are so many other "woods" coming up -- Bollywood, Nollywood, Riverwood and so on -- thanks to the increasingly affordable technology for making movies.
It means that actors are in greater demand, in their thousands if not millions. The Uganda film industry is no different and movies are being produced here and there, depicting our situation and using so-called appropriate technology and locally available materials. And of course, local manpower.
You may wonder where all the training for the hundreds of movie actors who have sprung up took place. Wonder no more, the secret is out. Kampala is a city that inevitably gives you a multiple personality. To be specific, it is the Kampala traffic we are talking about.
If you want to see people switching personae effortlessly, follow them through city traffic.
You will witness multiple character transformations in one individual within the space of a few minutes.
Lets us start with this middle-aged man as he pulls out of his mortgage house in a suburb north of the city.
He has grumblingly got out of bed because he has to drop kids at school before the bell for classes rings. Amid curses, he prepares himself and finally pulls out of his gate with a nasty scowl on his face.
In the drive, he sees the neighbour's wife also setting off on a similar errand. He flashes a friendly grin and lets her enter the main road first.
Once on the road, he drives very fast until he reaches the first unmanned junction. The haste reduces. All the motorists around are likely to know him.
Gently, he gives way to those crossing until the road is clear, then he drives on. You do not show road rage when the fellow at the receiving end could be the one who gives you a lift when your car is down.
His manners keep worsening as he gets to the bigger roads to the city. At busy junctions regulated by traffic lights, our gentle driver becomes a different man. When the light turns amber before he reaches the junction, he accelerates and hoots at the car in front of him rudely.
You should see his face now. He looks like Lucifer himself. The light turns red and he accelerates even more, shouting an insult at the slow driver to his right. He swerves past and races across the junction, narrowly missing a speeding car that has the right of way.
Eventually, he reaches the school with a minute or two to spare. Then he transforms again and becomes all humility. He carries the kids' school bags and escorts them to the gate. He greets the teacher on duty with a gentle, polite smile, addressing them with a respectful Mr, Miss or Madam.
Now looking all purposeful and full of diplomacy, he strides back to the car until he is strapped in again and with the windows safely rolled up, lets out a curse and a sigh.
But since most of the people around are fellow parents, the expletives and other choice swear words are reserved for another section of town, until he finally reaches his workplace.
The transformations are repeated on the way back in the evening. There are areas when our driver is all law-abiding, especially where policemen are controlling and directing traffic.
Then there are those roads which lead to heavily populated areas and have a higher percentage of matatus.
In such areas, our man exhibits a vulgarity you least expected from him, especially if he has no kids in the car. He responds to the taxi drivers in their own language, showing them rude gestures that leave them challenged.
As he approaches his home, he once against transforms into the most diplomatic driver on the road.
And those are only the drivers. Wait until we look at the passengers who exhibit even more amazing acting talent in different sections of the city, depending on which vehicle they are in or where it is passing.
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