‘Rugged Priest' Making Heads Turn and a Few – Jittery

Rugged Priest' Making Heads Turn and a Few Jittery

Bob Nyanja, the celebrated director of Malooned and Redykyulass a TV parody is once again taking the spotlight with a bold move that many would fear to make with his new controversial movie, The Rugged Priest.

The movie premired last week at the Junction during the opening of the Fifth Kenya International Film Festival (KIFF) at the Alliance Franaise, Nairobi.

The Rugged Priest is based on a true story about the life and tragic death ten years ago of American-born Fr. John Kaiser (Collins Simpson), a Mill Hill Missionaries priest. The Rugged Priest is the boldest story ever told by a Kenyan film-maker and incriminates three schemers in the death of Fr. Kaiser whose guts to defend the poor and advocate for peace did not amuse the powers that be.

A powerful minister for Internal Security is directly blamed for Fr. Kaiser's death while the film accuses US security agencies as well as a senior clergy who was Fr. Kaiser's superior, for complicity.

The tension during the premier at the French Cultural Centre was so intense that even the Vice-President, who was the chief guest and his entourage, including Kenya's Information Minister, did not sit to the end.

The cast features some very seasoned actors including sixty-three-year-old Collins Simpson as Fr. John Kaiser and Oliver Litondo (First Grader) as the Bishop under whose diocese Fr. Kaiser was. Other notable stars in the movie included John Sibi Okumu, a journalist by training, who plays the role of the lawyer to the notorious minister. The prolific playwright, Francis Imbuga plays Sulumeni, the government appointed chairman who conducts the hearing on Fr. John Kaiser's death.

Ainea Ojiambo, acting as the minister (Shompole), effortlessly depicts the meanness and insensitivity of his character. He captures how the minister abuses under-age girls, picking them from various points, including students performing traditional dances during harambees and needy girls seeking bursaries from his office.

Fr. Kaiser annoys the minister when he attempts to help the abused children even accusing him of the ethnic clashes in the fictitious place called Maela. The minister follows proceedings of the commission of inquiry appointed by the Government through the radio system manned by security agents planted in the courtroom where Fr. Kaiser brands the commission a public relations gimmick to cover up the real culprits behind the clashes'. This does not augur well with the minister who vows the end of the priest.

Using the all dreaded secret police, the minister attempts three times to get the priest murdered to no avail. On one occasion, Fr. Kaiser seeks refuge in a convent and his assistant father, Ian (Lwanda Jawar), hides him under a chair. Finally, they catch up with him while going to check on his parishioners and shoot him at a point blank range.

Nyanja says the film needs a bit of polishing before it is finally ready for release to the public. He is currently working on sound and other pending aspects of the movie that promises to be an exciting must-watch.

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