Police inspector Billong (played by the director Thomas Ngijol) is a handsome man aged around 40. He is always fully suited and booted, and with a gun to hand. He terrorises local criminals (as well as anyone whom he suspects of breaking the law). He doesn’t tend to get his hands dirty, though, always allowing his stooges to do the messy work for him, while he struts from a few steps behind. He tells a suspect while pointing a gun to his head: “we are both Black men, but I’m in a position of power and I could kill you anytime without any consequences”. These power dynamics are guaranteed to raise some eyebrows in Europe. And he’s always prepared to use torture, including hanging suspects upside down in the hope of milking a confession.
Untamable is a very African film dealing with a very African type of masculinity. Billong repeatedly boasts his Black heritage, while claiming that humanity and fraternity have a very different connotation in the second largest continent in the world. He shuns European concepts in favour of his own barbaric tactics, both at work and also with his family. He has a wife, two teenage sons and a estranged daughter from a previous marriage (whom he once evicted, and now refuses contact with her father).
Billong is determined to “teach” his two boys the old-fashioned ideas of societal role, which he inherited from his father. He claims that his old man protected and corrected him. He tells his eldest: “when I was your age I was out on the streets fighting for independence”, before asking him: “do you like Marvin? And do you know how he died”. The response is chilling, with a not-so-subtle message: “his father killed him”. In a hilarious scene, Billong attends his eldest son school because the adolescent used foul language. He has a violent meltdown in front of the perplexed school principle, who begins to feel sorry for the hapless teenager. In another moment, Billong violently bullies his son into not being a thug, the contradiction speaking for itself. A little tragic, but also a little laughable.
There is only one person who can contend with Billong: his wife Odette (Thérèse Ngono). She is as fiery as her husband, and furiously demands that he treats his children with kindness. The problem is that Billong doesn’t see anything wrong in what he does. He is simply relaying the education that he received from his father onto his children, so that they can grow up and follow the footsteps of their successful father. And he is seeking to protect them from the dangers that threaten to poison their lives: gangs, drugs, or even their mobile phones. So Odette reminds him: “you should love you children ahead of protecting them”, leaving Billong speechless. This is perhaps the movie’s most powerful scene.
Despite Odette’s participation, Untamable is not a feminist movie. Billong is so absorbed into African culture that there is little hope for change. What is clear is that European models of civility do not always work in this region of the world. Change instead lies in small gestures of reconciliation. A brief encounter with Billong want to change into a more gentle version of imself? Or is male sensibility a quality to be frowned upon?
Entirely shot in Cameroon, Thomas Ngijol’s fourth feature film provides clear insight into the streets of a city (presumably the country’s capital Yaoundé?), with vivid yellow dirt roads, precarious housing, abundant markets, and loud human activity. Black skin tones are beautifully captured, often with abundant sweat and magnificent lighting. Untamable offer a deep-dive into a world foreign to Europeans – from a geographical, a cultural and also an ideological perspective. A surprising journey into a brand new world.
Untamable premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 78th Festival de Cannes, when this piece was originally written. Also showing at the 69th BFI London Film Festival. An enjoyable and profound little film. Definitely worth a viewing.
