African Giants

The immigrant experience is different for everyone who goes through it, though there are some commonalities, too, regardless of where one hails from. And the impact of this experience doesn’t end with those who make the journey from elsewhere; it also affects the first generation of children born to those who immigrated, particularly in their struggle to dutifully honor their heritage while assimilating into the domestic culture of their new homeland. Those are among the issues addressed in writer-director Omar Kamara’s debut feature, the story of two American-born sons of immigrants from Sierra Leone who spend a long weekend together in Los Angeles. Alhaji (Dillon Daniel Mutyaba), the elder brother, is an aspiring actor seeking to make his big break, while Sheku (Omete Anassi), his junior sibling, is an accomplished but restless law school student at Georgetown University. Together they engage in lengthy discussions on a variety of subjects, such as whether they consider themselves “Africans” or “African-Americans” (and the cultural considerations and social stigmas that come with each), whether or not they should continue to practice the Islamic faith with which they were raised, and various career- and family-related matters, including their relationship with one another. Their conversations are sometimes revelatory, occasionally playful and periodically contentious as they seek to find themselves through one another. Unfortunately, much of the narrative is dominated by such exchanges, making the film quite talky at times (especially in the overlong and somewhat tedious opening segment). What’s more, though, many of these dialogues never lead to much in the way of identifiable outcomes, instead consisting largely of open-ended questions that are raised and tossed back and forth but rarely adequately resolved. Perhaps that’s by design to illustrate the fluid, ever-changing, often-contradictory nature of the lives and relationships of those who are first generation immigrant children. At the same time, however, it often makes for frustrating viewing, as audience members may find themselves left unsatisfied by what they’re shown. For me, I often felt like the brothers are talking in circles, sometimes contradicting themselves and ultimately never getting any closer to meaningful clarity. This is not to suggest that what they discuss is uninteresting (despite the fact that their exchanges sometimes grow a little too protracted); it just feels like most of their conversations never really go anywhere. And that’s unfortunate, given that this production represents a missed opportunity to shed light on something that many viewers may have had little exposure to. Maybe the expectation of a tidy ending is a little too much to hope for in a scenario like this, but the vagaries with which viewers are presented leaves something to be desired, too.