The Boy Kumasenu

CinemaSerf

At times, this reminded me quite a lot of one of those Children's Film Foundation movies that were designed for, and starred, the kids. Only this one is set in warmer climes, and stars the young Nortey Engmann in the title role. He lives a subsistence existence on the Atlantic ocean's "Gold Coast" but life there offers him little, so after hearing Dick Whittington-style stories of riches and prosperity in Accra, heads to the capital. Pretty swiftly he finds himself embroiled with the criminal fraternity but is luckily rescued by the well-meaning "Dr. Tamakloe" (Oku Ampofo) who takes him in and finds him work. This only makes him more attractive to the thugs, though, as they try to coerce him into robbing the man of his valuables. "Kumasenu" is inclined to resist, but they become violent and he has a tough choice to make... The story is unremarkable and the acting is generally likewise. Indeed it's probably only the fact that it was made, pretty basically, in situ that really makes it worth watching as his adventures are described to us by a narrator for an hour. There's some nice photography of this bustling city and there's also a sense of just how poverty-stricken the poor were here in the early 1950s too.