A young girl is kidnapped on her way home from school. The abductors ask for ransom from the girl’s family and instruct the family to produce the money and cooperate with them so that their daughter is released in one piece.
The parents ask for assistance from the girl’s aunt who happens to be an inspector. This inspector then dispatches her team of three men (dragon boys) to free the young girl and catch then bad guys. The usual kidnapping plot. Think Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee movies. Then you have the entire plot and flow of Nyara.
What strikes you first is the picture clarity, the hair and dressing style of the three young men (dragon boys) and then the Kiswahili mufti with the random English words here and there. That is what is great about this film. Although it has your typical plot, it is made in Tanzanian, with Tanzania’s in mind but also, its scope stretches out to all Kiswahili speaking nations.
I am stuck with an image of all the hairstyles, makeup, and wardrobe of the cast, more so, the three members of the dragon boys…their torsos as well.
The opening scene prepares you for the amazing work that is the cinematography. The picture clarity and crispness made watching an otherwise ordinary story very captivating. The set designer did a beautiful job of setting the film’s tone in terms of context.
The sound was noticeably clear as is characteristic of shooting in 5.1. The sound is very high quality with every sound being captured. The music was amazing as was the editing and colouring.
I found myself struggling to remember that this was a serious film as some of the stunts were hilarious and typical of a Kung Fu movie, with the sound and the moves. Perhaps this was a device that the creators used. For instance, there is a scene where a man who is running has a watermelon thrown at them and without missing a beat, he punches right through the fruit.
I struggled with the dialogue and some actors. I felt that the dialogue was not fast paced towards the action scenes and in some cases unnecessary. For instance, when establishing the relationship between the husband and wife, the dialogue was too much and unnecessary. The three family members were not very believable in their acting out of their roles. The father would act better when away from his wife. The wife was not really selling the act and the daughter could have definitely been more believable. I did not at any point feel sympathetic or worried about the child even when she was kidnapped.
That said, Nyara is a fun movie to watch. It was exiting to see the picture and sound quality of the film. Nyara is testament to the ever growing and evolving film industry.
Nyara premiered in Kenyan cinemas on 26th February 2021. The film is distributed by Crimson Multimedia, and is be available to watch in the following cities and cinemas;
- Prestige Cinema – Nairobi
- Westgate Cinema – Nairobi
- Anga Cinema (Diamond Plaza) – Nairobi
- Mega Cinema – Kisumu
- Motion Cinema – Greenspan Mall
- Nyali Cinemax – Mombasa
- NuMax Cinema – Uganda