Wakaliga Uganda review – a blistering superhero movie with hardboiled cops and a nefarious ‘girl with a voluminous bum’
Wakaliga Uganda’s 40-minute superhero film *Kibuuka Omumbaale* turns the history of a Buganda warrior’s looted remains into an action-packed story about colonial theft and restitution. The film’s mix of spectacle, humour and historical detail aims to engage an international audience, including British viewers, while prompting them to consider the return of cultural artefacts.
The story follows a young man possessed by the warrior’s spirit, whose powers include flight and death rays, as he confronts an evil doppelganger. Journalists consult folklorists and museum curators, while corrupt politicians and helicopter gunships drive the plot towards an explosive showdown. The film is named for relics taken to Cambridge University in 1906 and returned to Uganda shortly before independence in 1962; it also uses a second, jokey voiceover inspired by Kampala’s live “video joker” tradition.
- Wakaliwood turns a restitution debate into a superhero action film.
- The film centres on Buganda warrior Kibuuka Omumbaale.
- Its jokes and history lessons share the screen with gunships and showdowns.
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Wakaliga Uganda is a 40-minute superhero film that weaves together fictional action with Uganda's real history of colonial theft. The story centres on the remains of a Buganda warrior that were taken to Cambridge University in 1906 and returned to Uganda around the time of independence in 1962; the film uses this actual restitution as the foundation for a fantastical narrative about cultural artifacts and their rightful place.
The film follows a young man who becomes possessed by the warrior's spirit, granting him superhuman abilities including flight and death rays. He faces an evil version of himself whilst navigating a world populated by journalists, folklorists, museum curators, corrupt politicians and military forces that build towards a climactic confrontation.
The film aims to engage international viewers—particularly British audiences—on the question of whether cultural artifacts taken during colonial times should be returned to their countries of origin. It also features a comedic voiceover style inspired by Kampala's "video joker" tradition, blending the language of global action cinema with distinctly Ugandan cultural elements.