24/02/2025 - BERLINALE 2025: Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo’s feature film debut is a melodrama recounting the joys and sorrows of a group of youngsters in the Rwandan capital

Presented in the Forum line-up of the most recent Berlinale, Minimals in a Titanic World is the feature debut by Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo. It revolves around a group of youngsters from the Rwandan capital of Kigali, with particular focus on Anita (Aline Amike), the film’s protagonist, who’s an aspiring singer. The film opens with Anita’s release from prison for assault, and the plot slowly unfurls, revolving around the recent death of her partner Serge and her friendship with her roommate Shema. It’s a stripped-back story, shot in a highly conventional style which draws from trends currently seen in TV series: medium shots of short duration, colourful lights and the use of slow-motion. A number of scenes follow the protagonist in the first person with a handheld camera, as if a documentary. The story is told without much continuity, lingering on certain rites (a funeral, a wedding, dance scenes) which almost turn into mini music videos within the film itself, evoking an excessive level of pathos which is occasionally difficult to stomach. The sequences are very short, everything is accelerated and, as a result, we never dive deeper than surface level. Anita looks for success, she reveals her strong character, and she finds herself contending with the dominant, patriarchal side of the Rwandan music industry.

But the social sphere in which Anita moves is only outlined to the audience; we don’t get to see the titanic world referenced in the title. The characters are mere stereotypes, memorable for their lack of depth. In fact, what does Minimals in a Titanic World tell us about Rwandan society that we don’t already know? Who is Anita and where does she come from? She’s a character without a story. Some of the film’s scenes offer clues, but they’re never developed, remaining beginnings of ideas. Or sketches, to be specific. Elements included to pad the story out. Even the spiritual side of the film, which is supposed to carry weight in the protagonists’ lives but which is also explored too briskly, ends up feeling parodic.

Not that Philbert Aimé Mbabazi Sharangabo doesn’t try to invent new approaches, such as when the protagonist is seen through a barred window or when two nuns make to exit through a gate. But the result is very confused, with the director blending European-arthouse-style scenes with hasty montages, which don’t always connect as they should. The ambitious nature of this work - which also results from the particular section in which it was presented, the Forum section, which has always prided itself on its alternative artistic vision - prevents us from considering the film from its more naïve side. Everything is excessively serious in Minimals in a Titanic World but paradoxically difficult to take seriously. To see it is to diagnose a certain kind of contemporary cinema. A kind which tries to be clever, made with scare resources and even scarcer ideas.

Minimals in a Titanic World was produced by Imitana Productions (Rwanda) in co-production with Iyugi Productions (Rwanda), Chromosom Film (Germany) and Zili Studios (Cameroon).

(Translated from Italian)